What Now?
by AlyLuvsYou
Summary: If she isn't a Dhampir, does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri busts Rose out of her cell. At first it's just the two of them; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? Full summary inside. Sequel to "What If?" Next Sequel: "Where Are you?"
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again. **

**Seeing as though this is a sequel, I'd recommend the previous story before starting this one. I don't know, just an idea… XD**

**Well, as promised, this is the sequel to **_**What If**_**. I decided to call this one **_**What Now**_** because throughout the whole story they are going to have to figure out what step to take next, and how they plan on surviving each step. I wasn't sure if I wanted Lissa or Dimitri with rose when they escape, and then realized the Lissa will at some point have to be Queen, so Dimitri was my fallback option. **

**I think you're all going to like where this story goes, because there isn't going to be one chapter where you aren't wondering "what now". (See what I did there? Lol) Anyway, in the beginning and toward the end, there will be action and adventure jam-packed into it, and in the middle, it will mellow out a little. At least, that's my hope. I'm probably going to ask for your help throughout the whole story; asking for ideas, comments, thoughts about what's going on so far. All of that will be a great help to me.**

**And in my defense, I realized that Palm Springs wasn't the place I was thinking of when I called it a prison. It is actually the place Adrian, Eddie, Jill, and Sydney go – the school – or at least I'm pretty sure… So, instead of changing it, I decided to incorporate the school itself and turn it into a prison. Lol it makes sense in my head. But, yeah. Palm Springs now has a huge prison where they keep bad and dangerous vampires.**

**A round of Thanks for those who reviewed throughout the entire story previous to this: **

**star, Carla, xxkatylouxx, Janine hathaway, louise95, Nikki1724, Elbie and Fearless, LovinTheSun1996, Celly731, Naridai Belikova, FrostbittenRose, OzeraGirl, lori9048, obsessed53, Answer-the-door, evilneevil, MorganvilleRoza, Onyx Maxwell, and RozaXDimkaBelikovForever.**

**And thank you so much for all of you who favored or followed the story so far! All of your reading really motivates me to keep writing. (:**

**Here's the first chapter to **_**What Now**_**:**

**Dimitri's POV**

As promised, I stayed with Roza until she was to be taken for her flight to Palm Springs. It's been a few hours since Lissa and the others left, putting our plan into action. It was about now that Rose remembered I was holding a present for her. It wasn't the one I wanted to give her earlier, but I needed this one for the plan to work.

About a month ago, when we were putting Rose's escape plan together, I called a fellow Guardian that dealt with spy-ware and secret ops equipment. He owed me a favor. I called him and told him we were looking for a strigoi hide out and I needed equipment that could record and send back information as I was hearing it. He sent it hastily, thoroughly pointing out that the favor was returned.

"Hey," she said, standing close to the bars. I was standing at Guardian's attention, keeping my eyes and ears open. My back was to her cell, though I was off in the corner where her cell met the next one over. I turned my head, watching as her eyes searched mine. "What are you thinking about?"

I let a small smile slip on my lips. "How beautiful you are."

She rolled her red-tinted eyes. "Don't try to flatter me. I know how different I look. I mean, my skin color hasn't changed, but I know my eyes have. And I can feel something different about…well, me," she added, looking down at the ground.

I averted my eyes back toward the wall opposite of her cell. "You know, I still can't put my finger on how you…you turned," I said cautiously, not sure how touchy of a subject this was. "I think about it again and again; I looked over all the facts that I saw when I got there and what the other Guardian's collected. But that's the one thing that I can't piece together. I know I missed something, and you know how I feel about being kept in the dark." I looked back at her. Her eyes were on me again, obviously trying to decide if she wanted to tell me something or not. "I know you're scared, Rose, but trust can go both ways. You know I trust you, and that you can trust me."

"I trust you with my life," she said automatically.

Another smile slipped. "Then you have nothing to be afraid of." She smiled too, and it seemed to light up her dark cell. Deciding the current topic was somewhat bothersome and definitely on the touchy side, I changed the subject completely.

"Do…you want to open your presents from me?"

Her eyes widened. "'Presents'? As in, more than one?"

I couldn't help it: I laughed. "Yes, Roza. I figured you could use a little cheering up, and…" I paused, rethinking what I was about to say. "And…well, I wanted to. But you can't open the second one until I say, okay?"

She nodded her head vigorously, acting so much like a child. But I knew she'd probably hit me if I said that out loud.

I bent down to grab the present, and then stood back up. Only to find her gone; there was nowhere in the cell to really hide, so confusion washed over me. The sudden event put me on full alert – it was easy to say I was slightly panicked.

"Rose? Rose!"

Then, I heard her laugh, and before I could react, I heard her voice. "Looking for me?" Still a little confused, I wasn't sure exactly where her voice came from, but then I saw her long brown hair dangle from above the cell door. Dragging my eyes up, I followed the path of her hair toward her face, which was plastered with a wide smirk. Her body was poised sideways above my head. A stunt like that would take a Guardian years of practice; building upper and lower body strength, how to balance ones weight to hold a steady pose. But Rose… She made it look effortless, and with only three months of Guardian training.

She laughed again. "You should have seen the look on your face, Dimitri. It was priceless!"

I smiled, but it faltered a little. Rose, my Roza, really was something…unnatural. She wasn't the same goofy girl I met three months ago. She wasn't the same fighter she was before. She wasn't just fighting for Lissa or Christian's life anymore – she's fighting for her own life.

She claimed down from the bars, her smile replaced with a worried frown. I must have looked troubled, because she touched my arm, and I flinched – I actually _flinched away from her_, my Roza. It was a stupid move. I didn't mean to – my body did it automatically. Immediately she backed away, retracting her hand. "I'm…sorry. I thought I'd have a little fun, but it was clearly the wrong thing to do."

I shook my head, trying to shake the previous feeling of fear toward Rose. "No, I'm sorry, Rose. I was in a deep thought and…you startled me…hanging up there. I wasn't expecting it. Please. Open your present. I don't know if you'll like it, but it's yours." I extended the gift through the bars, smiling a real smile. This one stayed there, encouraging her to come closer and take the gift. It must have worked this time, because she stepped out of the shadows, letting the dim light from the lamp hit her face. "Please," I said one more time, needing her to take the present and open it. I wasted too much time.

It was time to go.

She took it, smiling a little again. "I really am sorry, Comrade."

I nodded, actually relieved to her ridiculous nickname for me. She tore open the present, pulling away the paper and holding up one of my old Western books. It was one of favorites. Ivan, my previous charge and best friend, had given it to me as a gift.

Rose held up the book in confusion. "You're…trying to get me to turn into you by making me read on of you Westerns?" she asked, slight worry in her eyes that her theory was actually true.

I laughed for what felt like the hundredth time today – it was so easy to be around Roza that it's hard to keep my mask up for very long. "It was Ivan's."

Her eyes met mine briefly before returning to the book. "You're old charge?"

I nodded. "And an old friend. It's just something I thought you'd like. It might come in handy some time."

She gazed from the book to me in question, but dropped it. "So, where's my second gift?" she asked, clearly very eager to get the next one.

I rolled my eyes. "I said you had to wait, my Milaya. Patience is a virtue."

Her eye brows scrunched together. "A…what? What does that even mean?"

I turned my back to the bars again, preparing myself for the plan to kick into action. "It means, Roza, that you need to wait, because there's a time and place for everything."

"Did you just use a metaphor to explain another metaphor?"

I chuckled. "I guess I did. But it's all true. You will just have to wait and see what it is."

She slumped against the bars behind me, her back to mine. "You should know by now that I have little patience to offer; at least not for very long, Comrade." Her hand took mine through the bars.

I squeezed her hand, a small smile on my face. "I know, Roza. Boy, do I know."

**There. Despite the shortness of it, I thought it was pretty cute. But, I wrote the damn thing, so of course I'd think it was cute, lol.**

**A small teaser chapter to start it off. I wish I had more time to write. But…getting ready for college is demanding my attention today. There should definitely be more tomorrow. Who knows, I might even get the next one up by tonight! It all depends on how the day goes, haha. **

**The next one will be Rose's escape, and Dimitri's plan to get her out. Just like Last Sacrifice, the gang has to make it look like it was all Dimitri's idea. But so make sure the Court trusts him when he returns, Lissa convinces everyone that Rose was able to use compulsion on Dimitri. It's pretty twisted, but I think it will work out. **

**Like always, I'm open to suggestions! If anyone wants to contribute ideas, Review with the idea or send me a PM. Even a co-writer would bring some weight off my shoulders. If you are truly interested, PLEASE let me know! Like, ASAP.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	2. Chapter 2

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Here be the next one! I don't really have a long Author's Note today. (Thank God) But I will say that I'm already having difficulty thinking of good ways to approach each chapter. Sooner or later, I'm going to seriously need help if this story is ever going to leave the run way and take off – in a matter of speaking.**

**Well, here's chapter two of **_**What Now**_**:**

**Dimitri's POV**

Minutes later, five Guardians strode down the hall, strength not only in their steps but also their impassive expressions. It was clear half of the Guardians in the building truly believed Rose was a freak of nature and that she couldn't be trusted. I, on the other hand, trusted Rose in every sense of the word.

I turned my head slightly to the right so the Guardians couldn't read my lips. "Keep your presents is the bad Eddie gave you. You're going to need Adrian's soon. Open it." Not a second later, I heard a loud rip. I don't know what she did with the present, but I hope she got it where they couldn't see it.

Rose backed up the shadows of her cage, her body tensing when they came into view. I stood up straighter, making myself look even taller. I was, on average, four inches taller than the other Guardian;. I could easily take them out and grab Rose, the both of us ditching this place. But I had to stick to the plan – the plan that Rose didn't yet know about. I was just happy she did as I told her without questioning anything.

This plan should roll smoothly. I hope.

"Guardian Belikov," the tallest, blonde Guardian greeted. I then recalled his name.

"Guardian Neid." I nodded once as my greeting.

"We are going to need you to step aside. _It_ needs to board the plane to Palm Springs." A sick not-so-pleasant smile slithered on his face. "Not that it'll live for much longer. I heard the Court plans on dismantling its body and studying it properly."

My fists clenched tighter with each horrid word he spoke about Rose. The other four Guardians actually seemed to fear my fists. Good.

"Brad, stop. You're pissing off the wrong Guardian, man," the second blonde Guardian said, looking worried that a battle might break loose. I recognized him as the Guard that stood at that desk every day, greeting us when we came to visit Rose in the past. He was about as tall as this bastard that was starting to really piss me off.

"Guardian Belikov. Good evening." One tall, female Guardian caught my attention. She was slender and quite attractive – for a Guardian in her late twenties like I was. Her dark blonde hair was cut short – even shorter than mine – and flipped out at the ends. She stepped around the first blondie Guardian, holding her hand out for me to shake. I ignored it and she dropped her hand back to her side. "I'm Anita. Guardian Jandura. We just came to collect the prisoner to be moved to her new cell in Palm Springs." She said the word 'prisoner' like it was an upgrade from what the other Guardian called Rose. It wasn't, not in the slightest. Also, I'm pretty sure she was flirting with me.

I kept my Guardian mask on. "Nice to meet you, Guardian Jandura. But I have specific orders from Princess Dragomir to escort Rose to her plane myself."

"Not happening, pretty boy," the first idiot spat, still trying to play tough guy. "Our orders come from the Queen herself, and she wants that _thing_ out of Court. Today. As in _right now_."

"Brad, shut up," Anita hissed at her companion. "He's a respected Guardian, and should be treated accordingly." She turned back to me. "We will agree to let you to escort her, so long as you don't mind our company?"

It was better than letting them touch her. "Okay."

I let them open the cell door; Anita handed me a pair of flex cuffs, winking at me as she stepped aside. I mentally shuddered. I wondered briefly why she would do that in front of Rose, than Realized they don't know of our resent relationship status.

Brad entered before I could, cautiously approaching Rose with a cocky grin. She slowly stepped from the shadows. The look she flashed me asked if she could try something. Figuring it would teach Brad a lesson, I smirked my answer.

"Come on, beast," he said to Rose, snapping his hand out to grip her shoulder. "Time to go to your new home."

That was mistake number one.

Anita must have guessed that Brad was making wrong moves because she stepped toward the cell. I held out my arm, blocking her way in. "Don't. She's gunna teach him some respect," I whispered. I saw Rose smirk – she must have heard what we were saying.

"Are you kidding me?" Anita exclaimed rather quietly. "She'll kill him."

I shook my head. "_If_ she wanted to. She's not the monster you believe her to be. And if you had any respect for me, you will trust my judgment and do as I say."

She didn't move; neither did the other Guardians. I leaded my back against the wall almost lazily, waiting and watching as the chaos already started to unfold.

"You have till three to get your hand off of me, buddy." To me, Rose's voice was almost playful, having heard her real threatening voice plenty of times. But to the others, she probably sounded…well, threatening.

He noticed the bag in her hand, the one that held all of her gifts from today. "Awe, how sweet. Your friends brought you entertainment for your pitiful life in a cell." He smirked his own sick smile then went to make a reach for the bag.

That was mistake number two.

Rose's smirk returned. "Three." In a motion that was almost too fast for my eyes to follow, Rose snapped her wrist and arm up, connecting the bag with Brad's right temple, with perfect aim, I might add. Sticking her foot out, she tripped him and he went face first into the bed. Then, to my shock and amusement, she actually sat on his back, looking almost bored. That, however, only lasted a few seconds when he finally regained his composure and flailed.

"Get off of me, you freak!" he shrieked.

She was up and on her feet a moment later. Without missing a beat, Rose approached me at a normal speed that everyone else could keep up with. I took my back from the wall as she turned her back to me again, connecting her wrists behind her back obediently. I leaned over and gently placed the flex cuffs around her wrists and tightened them, trying to make it all look convincing.

"That's my girl," I whispered at a level I knew only she could hear.

I heard her laugh and almost laughed along with her when Brad clumsily got up from the bed and looked around for Rose, like he was expecting another attack from her. He had a small yet deep cut from where Rose's bag met his face.

"That bitch hit me and your just gunna sit there and smirk?" He looked from Anita to me, but she looked like she didn't care much about what happened either.

"Guardian Neid, please take over Guardian Walker's post. You will stay here and…hold down the fort, seeing as though you can't seem to stand up straight." I realized then that she must be team leader and had the power to throw him around all she wanted.

Without a word to anyone, he nodded and walked out of the cell, but not without giving me the dirtiest look I've ever seen come from anyone. That situation itself was almost as laughable as the other one.

"Guardian Belikov, please lead the way." Anita motioned for me to lead Rose out. I had one hand on Rose's shoulder, not holding on, but not letting go either. Two of the other three Guardian's walked ahead with Brad, teasing and taunting him for his demotion. Anita walked alongside us as the third Guardian too up far guard from the rear. "So, what are your plans after Palm Springs?"

I glanced at her, wondering silently if she as really going to attempt flirting again. "I plan on returning to Lissa and following her decisions and actions. Just like any other Guardian would do."

She nodded. "Of course, but I was talking on more…futuristic terms. Like what you thought about raising a family one day." Yup; another failed attempt at flirting.

I heard a low growl erupt from Rose's throat, and I know Anita heard it, too. She didn't turn around, but I squeezed Rose's shoulder reassuringly. Anita looked from Rose to me, and back again. I averted my gaze. "Yes, I have. I even have a certain someone in mind. She's the most beautiful woman I've even set my eyes on."

Anita's eyes sparkled with an almost hopeful hue. I raised a brow. I almost felt bad for leading her on, but didn't like how she talked about the topic like Rose wasn't here.

"Let's just get this over with." I kept walking, avoiding looking at her.

We walked up the one flight of stairs. Rose was quiet, not saying anything, which I was thankful for. I glanced down at the gift bag she still held behind her back. I watched ahead of me again; if this plan didn't work, they'll kill Rose any way they can. She may have the strength and speed of a Strigoi, but she isn't immortal. She has a heartbeat, a pulse. Her skin never changed, and she face still flushes. It's strange, but amazing at the same time. She really is a new breed – a new beginning.

**[[Was going to end it here, but figured you needed a little in-tell from Lissa's POV.]]**

**Lissa's POV**

It was time for us to meet Rose at the airstrip. I can't believe I was forced to order my best friend away. As soon as my meeting with the advisers was over – and after tracking down Adrian at the nearest bar – I called the Queen, begging for her to let Rose stay at Court, that she wasn't a threat to anyone. I promised to keep an eye on her, to keep her safe. She said Rose was too dangerous to keep near the politicians and Royal Moroi at Court; that this was for their safety as well as mine.

I swear, she needs a tune up on her listening skills. Didn't she hear me? I told her a hundred times that Rose isn't a threat. I risk my "safety" every day, and yet she's still willing to put Rose's life at risk.

"If Rose dies, I promise I will refuse the thrown and watch it crumble because there won't be a more appropriate candidate to run this horrid excuse for a Vampire Race."

Adrian, Eddie and Christian were all staring at me. And I took me a minute to realize that I had said all that out loud. We were in the car on the way to the airstrip. Eddie was driving with Adrian in the front passenger seat. Christian took over the seat next to me and Mason on my other side. Mason graduated with the rest of us, but he seemed to fall into some kind of depression when he heard about Rose's…condition. And there were of course, other Guardians in another vehicle behind us.

I sighed. "Sorry, I guess I was thinking out loud."

"And rather strongly," Christian said. He wrapped his arm around me. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll keep Rose safe, Liss."

I nodded. "I hope what I'm doing is enough."

"Hey, any contribution to a Dimitri-plan is an improvement," Adrian said from the seat in front of Mason. "Besides, if it's you making the contributions and putting your own life and social record at risk…" He turned in his seat, giving me a look. "Well, than that's more than enough to make his work." I could sense the double meaning in his words.

Mason wasn't chosen to be a part of this plan because he was deemed…unstable by Eddie. He said he doesn't eat much, and he does nothing but train. He hasn't been assigned a charge yet – mainly because the Queen believed I needed extra protection. So, for now, he is to follow me around like the rest of the Guardians do. It's actually pretty annoying. I've had protection like this before, when my parents were alive, but back then I never noticed they were there. Now they are ever present, and they are my friends.

We finally made it to the strip. Eddie was the first one out, Mason right after him. Eddie opened Christian's door and we both slid out, while Mason opened Adrian's. We stepped out of the vehicle, and I was surprised to see Dimitri alone with Rose. They were standing in front of the plane, talking. He was no doubt telling her the plan, seeing as though there weren't ears around them to hear. Rose's hands were tied behind he back, much to my dislike. I knew Dimitri didn't like it either, but he had to make sure they still trusted him. At least long enough for the plan to unfold.

Dimitri caught us in his line of vision, and nodded for us to come over. I walked quickly, the others on my heels. Eddie caught up easily. "Easy, Princess. She isn't going anywhere yet," he said in a teasing tone. My guess was he took near guard, Mason somewhere behind us, taking up far guard.

I ignored him and kept going. Rose turned. Upon seeing me, her face dipped into a sad smile. Halfway across the terminal, I noticed another Guardian come up next to Dimitri – a female one – and argue with him about something. Rose was more interested in me and I talked to her through what little part of the bond we had left. Over the last couple of months, we discovered that Rose could no longer enter my mind. Nor were the occurrences happening at random. Our telepathical connection, however, seemed to strengthen, and we now communicate back and forth.

_Everything okay?_ I asked

She shrugged, that sad smile never leaving her face. _They don't want Dimitri sitting with me on the plane, let alone you. They claim 'it'd be safer' if it was just the five of them watching me. Even though Dimitri has higher authority, they aren't co-operating._

"What?" I exclaimed out loud before I could stop myself. Eyes were draw to me again, and I quickly recovered. "What is this I hear you almost wouldn't let Guardian Belikov – my personal Guardian – accompany me on the flight?"

The Guardian with Dimitri bowed respectfully. "With all due respect, your highness, I was not aware you were to accompany us on the flight until recently." Her eyes met mine seriously. "And, again, with all due respect, I don't see why you feel you need to be here. You should be at Court, preparing yourself for-"

"Do _not_ tell me where I should and should not be!" I yelled over her, actually feeling the force it took to get my voice-level that high. She flinched. "If I had the power now, I would send all five of you to the Academy and find other, more co-operative Guardians to escort Rose to Palm Springs – not that I like the fact that she's being transferred in the first place. But that's another minor detail out of my control." I realized I was rambling and cut off my next sentence I had lined up before it could leave me lips. I decided to change the topic completely. "What is your name?"

"Guardian Anita Jandura." Anita bowed again.

"Guardian Jandura, I will be accompanying you in the back of the plan. Rose will not leave my sight, do you understand?"

The look on her face told me she didn't, but nodded anyway. She took Rose by the shoulder and led her onto the plane. I glanced around and noticed Adrian was missing, but before I could say anything about it, Dimitri's phone went off. He picked it up and answered before the first ring ended.

"Belikov," he said into the phone, his Russian accent coming through just by saying his own name. The tiniest of smirks grew on his face. He nodded once, and then again. "I understand. Thank you for keeping me posted." Then he hung up.

He motioned for us to follow him and we did. We boarded the plane, Mason taking up the rear.

Dimitri's voice pounded against the walls of the small yet large jet plane as he called out three of the Guardian's names, two of which I didn't recognize. "The Queen has arrived back at Court earlier than expected and you will need to be there on guarding detail. I just received the phone call moments ago."

"Who made the call?" Anita asked, standing from her isle seat next to Rose, who looked as confused as I was, but we both kept our mouths shut.

"A fellow Guardian at Court. The Queen's plane landed in the strip across the state and she was driven in a few minutes ago."

She thought about it for a moment but didn't say anything, like she didn't believe him. Then she nodded to the three Guardians around her. "Do as he says. If the Queen is at Court at the prisoner escapes us then your protection will be needed there."

I wanted to throw something at her – they seriously thought Rose was a threat to them. Will anything get through to them? Probably not.

The Guardians left, not needing much more convincing. Anita and Dimitri took their seats next to Rose in the far back. Anita sat in the seat in front of Rose, Dimitri sitting beside her. Christian and I were smart enough to keep our distance. I wanted so badly to sit close to Rose, but knew it was a bad idea.

I noticed again that Adrian was still missing, and Eddie, too. I turned to Mason, who sat behind Christian. "Where's Adrian and Eddie? I didn't see them board."

"Eddie is keeping an eye on Adrian – something about making a phone call."

I nodded and turned back around, but before I turned completely I caught Rose's eye.

_Rose, can you hear me?_

_I can always hear you, Liss._

I sighed in relief. _Do you know what's going on?_

_No, but I have a feeling it has something to do with Adrian. I heard the phone call he made._

I felt my eyes widen automatically. Christian gave me a curious glance but I waved him off. _How did you-?_

_My hearing is better now. I could hear a pin drop while listening to scream-o._

_Oh,_ Was my brilliant response. I never would have thought Rose would develop such…unique abilities. I half expected her to have the ability over an element, but would never want her to try it. She never liked the idea of magic.

_Can you tell me how you're getting out of here? Dimitri didn't say exactly how._

_No, Liss. The less you know, the better._

I was about to argue when Adrian boarded the plane. He said something about staying at the front of the plane where he had more of a chance at hard liquor. So, he and Eddie headed toward the private section of the plane. I dropped the conversation between me and Rose and focused my attention out the window as we prepared for take-off.

**That's all for chapter two. **

**Seriously…**_**I need a way to get Dimitri and Rose off the plan and to stage it as an accident.**_** I want rose to seem innocent the whole way through, but Dimitri to be in the picture somehow. This is getting almost frustrating. **

**Anyway, anyone want to co-write? Or at least lend some smart ideas to this run-away train? (First, I referred to the story as a plane, and now a train. I need a new set of metaphorical phases and sayings.) Let me know if you're interested at all.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	3. Chapter 3

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Here's the next chapter to **_**What Now**_**. I kind of came up with an escape scene, and I don't think it's very logical. So, if you see the wholes, ignore it, haha. Rose won't be blamed for any of this, but the other Guardians will, which may later on cause a ripple in Dimitri's successful return to Court (which you will understand why it has to be that way – again – later on.) It sounds messy, but will be better later.**

**Well, here's the beginning of chapter three to **_**What Now**_**:**

**Rose's POV**

Honestly, I was just as lost as Lissa was on the subject of getting off this damn plane. Well, there was also the fact that I knew all about it and she didn't, but that's not the point. 5Sure, it made sense, and it could definitely work, but I can see the flaws. My only hope is that no one else does.

I sat quietly in my seat, not making eye contact with anyone round me. In front of the plane on the landing strip, Dimitri told me to make it look like I want nothing to do with anyone around me – even him. At first I thought it would be hard to sit there and not look at him. But, really, it wasn't that difficult. I appreciated what they were doing, but none of this was even really necessary. All I needed was for them to get me out of the Court's claws and I'd be fine.

As I stared out the window and watched the clouds and ground below slide away, I couldn't help but think about what will happen once everything is all said and done.

What will happen to Dimitri when he's back at Court? For some reason I suddenly felt mad at him. I didn't want him risking his life, reputation, and career as a Guardian all for me. I want him to have as normal of a life as possible, and he should know that normal won't happen with me. Why was he doing all of this for me? What's the point? I'm already dead.

What will Lissa do, and how much will she worry about me? I tried to picture her sitting on that thrown rather than Tatiana. It wasn't something I always pictured her doing, but I knew at this point there was nothing any of us could do about it. The Vampire race needs a queen, and there'd be no one better to run it than my best friend and sister.

If only I hadn't gone down to the dungeons that night. How different would things be if that day never existed?

And my last question to the world: _What will happen to me?_

"Anita, can you get me some water from the cooler?" Dimitri suddenly asked. I heard her get up from her seat, but never turned to look at Dimitri, fully aware that was the whole reason he got her to leave, so he could talk to me. "Roza?"

I sighed, turning my head only slightly. "Yes, Guardian Belikov?"

I could almost feel him tense at his appropriate title. He knew I wasn't happy. "Look at me." Reluctantly, I did. My fearful, red-tinted eyes met his beautiful, dark brown, bottomless orbs. It was looking into a never ending pool of confidence and power – power that he could easily use to kill me, just like any other Strigoi. I knew he could feel my fear, my anxiety to get out of here and be free.

His voice was softer than I would have expected, and it was very low in his throat. "Don't move." His eyes then held seriousness, and I tensed immediately. He reached a hand up and gently tucked a strand of my long brown hair behind my ear. I was surprised by the action, but then felt something be placed on that small little fold in my ear.

I moved my hand up – will hands, seeing as though they were still cuffed together – slowly to feel for it, only to be stopped by one of Dimitri's hands.

"Don't. It's a small head phone. No one will see it if you leave it alone. It will also help us communicate." That was all he said before turning his attention elsewhere. I watched him for another minute, hoping for an explanation, but didn't get it. Giving up, I turned back to the window.

Anita came back with Dimitri's water and handed it to him with a brisk smile. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes when he flashed her a fake smile in return. He had said that he's only acting, trying not to seem suspicious. Secretly, I think he enjoys flirting a little because he never does it with me.

That thought made my already shattered heart ache. This was going to be a long day…

Almost a half hour passed, and nothing major happened. I was waiting for the signal to put the next part of our plan into action, and I could have sworn I had missed it. When Anita got up to talk to Mason – who, by the way, won't stop staring at me like I'm his prime target – I asked Dimitri what the signal was, and he just told me to be patient. I seriously wondered if he realized who he was talking to.

Eventually, I got tired of sitting and turned to Dimitri, looking as serious as I could. I hadn't realized that Anita was now sitting across the aisle from us, and she turned to look at me the same time he did. I glared at her, recalling her constant flirting with my…boyfriend?

Dimitri's gaze was curious as well as questioning, and I realized that several seconds had passed and I still hadn't said anything. Finally, I softened my gaze and looked him in the eye. "I have to pee."

Neither of them said anything for another second before Dimitri chuckled rather loudly. "Okay."

Anita raised a brow as he lifted himself from his seat, her eyes following him. "You actually think she needs to use the restroom. It's obviously a trick."

His head snapped around so fast I thought it would fall off. "Guardian Jandura." His voice was so fierce it made me cringe ever so slightly – though Anita would have never noticed, and her expression actually held…worry. Like the force of his voice actually slapped her in the face and said "No date for you."

"Y-Yes?" she stuttered slightly.

"You have taken shifts in watching over Rose and making sure she got food and water, have you not?"

Her eyes flashed to me for a brief second. My cold hearted stare forced her to look away. "Um…Yes, I would keep watch over her. I watched her during the morning shift." I was assuming she meant morning in Moroi time, because Lissa would never visit me on Anita's shift.

"And you gave her food." His stare become something that was almost unbearable, even for me – and it wasn't even directed at me. "Right?"

She didn't say anything right away, obviously trying to regain her composure. "How was I to know she needed food, Dimitri?" she said in a small voice, volume and head low. "Why are you getting so upset over this? She shouldn't need it anyway."

His anger was hidden by his Guardian mask, but I could see his control slip. Even though I was somehow enjoying Anita's suffering in the fact that her precious Dimitri wasn't falling for her, I didn't like seeing him this way.

"Don't." He turned to look at me out of the corner of his eye. "It's fine. I don't need to eat than much anymore, remember? One of the measly meals they gave me was more than enough."

Not satisfied, yet knowing he needed to be the better person, he turned his back on Anita and gently pulled me from my seat, leading me up the rows toward the front of the plane where the restroom were. Dimitri placed one finger on my hip, gently tapping the place that I hid Adrian's gift for me. It was a pocket knife, one that was going to get me out of these cuffs. That's when I realized something: that was the signal.

I nodded very slightly, making it almost un-noticeable, but never turned to him. As we passed Lissa, she looked up from her phone, eyes immediately meeting mine. The signal had already come and gone, and yet she had no idea that this was the last time she'd seem me. At least for a while.

I smiled sadly at her, trying to pour all of my love for her through those brief moments of eye contact. Her eyes widened slightly, realizing what was going to happen, that Dimitri and I were ditching. She squeezed Christian's hand, forcing him to look up at me, too. He flashed me a smile that told me good luck, and to be careful. He turned to Lissa, trying to play it off as a simple glance as we walked by, but Lissa never looked away until I had to turn my back to her.

Suddenly, the plane jerked slightly, causing Dimitri and I to stumble as we got closer to the bathroom. The door we came in when we boarded jiggled violently. The bolted on the door were pretty rusted looking. That was bound to end badly.

Dimitri steadied us both. "Watch the Princess and Christian!" he yelled to Anita over his shoulder. She immediately ran to their seats, urging them to buckle up as the "fasten-your-seat-belts" came on. Mason looked on alert and ready. Ready to attack…me.

Then a voice came over the PA system, making us all stop what we were doing to listen. "Please excuse the jerking. We are facing some minor turbulence. Please fasten your seat belts and be patient as we ride out-" He cut off.

And then it all happened so fast.

The plane jerked left, forcing Dimitri and I into the outside wall of the restrooms. My body slammed into Dimitri's with a violent force. It didn't hurt me much at all, what with my enhanced muscle build and strength, but I heard Dimitri grunt, wincing under the weight of my body hitting his. It probably felt like someone dropped a log on him.

"Dimitri! Get her to the seats and strap her down!" Anita more or less ordered. I would have laughed if it weren't for our current flustered situation.

"I know my duty, Jandura. Protect the Moroi!" Dimitri yelled back, sounding flustered yet looked completely calm. I could tell her was acting, and I knew I was the only one that could see it. I took pride in my keen senses and ability to read Dimitri's movements. He steadied us again, trying to make our way to the seats only a few feet away. It was harder than it sounded.

"The Princess is your charge, Belikov," Mason pointed out almost bitterly. I wasn't sure how to take his attitude: frustration or pure anger? "You should be protecting them, not her."

Dimitri and I stumbled slightly with another small jerk. "And right now I'm in charge of getting Rose to Palm Springs. Watch Christian and Lissa and you better be ready to put your body in front of theirs, Mason, because anything can happen, even in the air."

Mason only stared coldly, and then secured his seat belt next to Christian, Anita sitting next to Lissa. Lissa looked more or less terrified, obviously confused about Mason's anger – we all were – and worried about me.

"_Don't be afraid. I'll be okay."_ I tried to smile. _"This isn't 'good-bye'. This is 'good luck'."_

She smiled back, sadness very visible, and it was gone just as quickly as it appeared. I don't know if I could communicate with her through the bond at a far distance, but I would try. I would do anything to take away the pain I was about to cause.

"What the hell is going on up there?" Anita yelled up front.

"Complications! I have my hands full! Stay with the others!" Eddie's voice came from the front of the plane.

Up until this point, Dimitri had "completely forgotten" about getting to a seat. He tried guiding me back to the closest seat to us, but it was no use. Sadly, before we could regain our balance, the plane tipped and jerked again to the right, the both of us landing right next to the door. I somehow managed to land on him again. I knew he was trying to prevent me from getting hurt. But I was the one hurting him.

"Belikov! Sit down!"

"Dimitri, get to a seat!"

"Rose!"

"Be careful! The door!"

Their voices drifted off, like the volume was turned down.

The door. That was it.

One look into Dimitri's eyes told me he was thinking the same thing. This, Dimitri and I both knew, was our only chance. Taking advantage of the fact the hinges on the already shaking door to the outside was the only way be ditch. I gripped the front of Dimitri's coat – he brought that stupid yet attractive duster with him – looking him in the eyes.

"Trust me," I said almost breathlessly, still distracted and completely lost in his eyes. He nodded in the smallest of ways.

"She's compelling him!" I heard Lissa's voice yell. "She's using compulsion on him!"

"What?" Christian's confused voice mirrored Dimitri's expression in his eyes.

I glanced behind me, seeing Mason make a move to unbuckle his seatbelt. If he got to me, the plan would be over and there'd be no getting away, not without someone getting seriously hurt. Can't let that happen.

I knew we needed all of this to look like an accident. It was Lissa's idea to make me and everything I did look innocent because she couldn't stand for me to look like the culprit. But, there was no other way. I had told her through the bond earlier – about the time Dimitri stuck that thing in my ear and told me not to touch – that this was the only way. I told her to make it look convincing, to accuse me of being able to use compulsion, even though it was nowhere near truth. For all they knew, I could use Moroi magic too, but even I knew that was impossible.

So, using the momentum from the jerking plane, I put my body between the plane door and Dimitri. I didn't feel much pain from the impact like was expecting, but I guess hitting a metal door has that kind of effect on a Strigoi-built body.

When the streaking wind blew the door open the rest of the way, Dimitri and I both tumbled backwards out into the sky, letting startled yelps escape us as we were captured and taken away by gravity.

**The end is kind of shaky, but I think I got through that okay. Sorry about the late update. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do for the 'escape' scene. I'm not sure I like it that much, but the sneakiness of it all was pretty good. It's hard to believe six pages took me that long to write, but I was trying to make it as detailed as possible, so I could skip around time a little bit in the next chapters. **

**If I missed something, of it doesn't make any sense at all, let me know, lol. Thanks so much for being patient and keeping up with me. I know my updates are scattered, but I'm slowly working on each chapter to make sure it makes sense and has enough dialogue and what not.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	4. Chapter 4

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**So, an interesting question came up in the reviews: How are they going to survive that fall? An excellent question, which will receive an – what I hope to be – an equally excellent answer. Well, the answer you will eventually read in this chapter. Either way, I hope it satisfies the situation. Also, try not to be too judgmental about it – it may not make sense but it keeps the story going. **

**Here's the chapter:**

**Rose's POV**

Falling out of the sky: Not something everybody does – unless that person is a professional sky-diver, then they don't qualify in this situation. I've never in my life – or undead life – gone sky-diving, let alone thought about doing it. And I'm 99% sure Dimitri hasn't done it either. How did I guess? He looked completely and utterly freaked out, matching my feelings exactly. And he didn't have this hands tied on the way down. It was hard enough to reach around for my pocket knife; trying to do it while flipping around in the air as just ridiculous in so many ways.

Eventually, I got the cuffs off and ditched them, deciding the pocket knife would be safer wedged tightly between my teeth. I managed to regain my composure and steadied my body so it stopped flipping like a leaf in the wind. I searched frantically for Dimitri and seen him trying to steady himself still. He wasn't too far below me, so angled my body toward him, keeping in mind that it would be that much more difficult if I couldn't stop him and we were to tumble to our deaths anyway. That didn't sound too appealing to me, so my hope was that the second part of the plan would get here, like, _now_!

I reached for him and managed to snag his leg, which thankfully stopped his tumbling and he righted himself. Except he was now hurdling toward the ground with his back leading the way.

He looked up at me and I could see the question in his eyes: Are you okay?

I nodded and motioned toward the ground, trying to make a point on how close it was getting. Thankfully, it was a second later I heard other objects closing in on us from above. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed it: our rides were here. And – what do you know? – they're professional divers. I don't know how Dimitri managed it, but this was part two of plan "Escape-With-Whats-Left-Of-Our-Lives-And-Hopefully-Not-Get-Killed". That's right; people were coming to save us from falling to our deaths in the sky. I'm not sure if we approached the plan the way we were supposed to, but we had to be in the sky at a certain point, to meet these guys at the "check-point", and we had obviously cut it close with our timing.

One of the three men floating along-side us and gave me a thumbs up – I returned it. He nodded and dove closer to Dimitri. Another one tapped my shoulder and I resisted the urge to break that hand. Surprising a flustered Strigoi was not the best idea in the world.

I glanced at him and nodded, letting him wrap his arms around my waist and rest it tightly against his. Dimitri and the first guy I seen were already heading quickly away from us, Dimitri wrapped up in his arms as they descended more quickly toward the ground. Me and my guy did the same. At the right altitude, Dimitri and suicide diver number one opened their parachute. I didn't see Dimitri's face but I'm sure the sudden halt took him off guard a little. What I did notice was that my guy didn't open his chute; at least not when he was supposed to. We shot past Dimitri and diver number one, who obviously wasn't happy with him not opening his chute either.

Then I felt his hand reach up and grip my neck.

What the hell? Did he have a death wish?

I pulled the pocket knife from my mouth and flipped it open. I twisted in his grip and just as I was about to turn and swipe at him, his grip fell slack altogether. That bastard actually let me go! He however had opened his chute and was now drifting, rather than approaching ground at a continuously fast rate like I was.

"Rose!" I heard Dimitri's voice, sounding just as surprised as I was. Somewhere inside me, I was glad it was me hurdling toward the ground at an alarming rate – granted, the dumbass that dropped me had actually slowed me down at one point. If it was him heading for the ground, I would have put my body in the way of his anyway, knowing that I could take that kind of impact better than he could.

I couldn't have been more than 50 feet in the air at that point. And I never realized how quickly 50 feet can pass by, almost making it seem like it was only 10 feet. Bracing myself for impact, I hit the ground with a sickening thud. Sure, if I was still a Guardian that would have broken my back of something, but my enhanced muscles and strength stopped at least that from happening. I started rolling, tumbling head over heels. Dirt and dust flew around me, blocking my vision. The fall itself hurt like a bitch, but I was more worried about suddenly feeling a throbbing pain in my leg. I stopped rolling after a while, trying to get some air back in my lungs from having the wind literally knocked out of me. My head ached and every muscle in my body screamed at me, although I did mentally yell back that it wasn't my fault – just to make myself feel better. I coughed and sputtered, trying to get back up and find that no-good, double-crossing jerk.

Then I realized what caused the pain in my leg. Looking down, there was my pocket knife – which must have been silver because it was burning intensely – deep in my right thigh.

I howled in pain, not quite recognizing my own voice. I heard the others touch down somewhere close-by, but that wasn't my primary focus right now.

Dimitri was there almost instantly. "Rose? Are you okay?"

I groaned, trying not to touch my leg because any movement hurt like a bitch. "That…_bastard_ tried to kill me…! He…gripped my neck and…ugh! He dropped me before he even opened the chute!" I ground out, fury building in me as I struggled to keep that bad side of me down. I was so mad at him! What the hell did I do to deserve this? I'm 100% sure I didn't know him – these people are strangers to me.

"I'm sorry," I heard him say; tough the look on his face told me he didn't quite mean it. He had short, spiked grown hair and blue-grey eyes, his goggles placed roughly on top of his head. "I didn't like you being that close to my neck and… She swung at me and I let her go. I thought I was protecting myself."

"Someone give the man a metal…" I groaned, trying to cheer myself up with a joke. It failed.

"You said you could handle it, Jake," the man that hadn't caught neither Dimitri nor I – the third diver – and I assumed him as dive leader.

"Let's get out of the open," Dimitri said, gathering me as gently as he could in his arms. "Head for that barn over there." At that point all of my other pains had gone away, but the silver in my leg was like torture and I couldn't move my own body to pull it out. I finally took in my surroundings and saw we had landed in a field that wasn't yet prepped for growing season, which wasn't much of a bonus on our part. All five of us ran for the nearest barn, the doors closing behind us. Dimitri set me on a couple bales of hay – or straw, which ever.

"Get this damn thing out of my leg!" I wailed, tired if my skin trying to heal around the burn of the silver. "Get it out!"

I'm pretty sure my voice startled the crap out of the divers, because they completely backed off, leaving Dimitri kneeling neck to me.

His gentle hands rested on my leg, carefully touching the flesh on my thigh. "Okay, hold still, Roza. I'm going to pull it out." I nodded, and didn't even have time to brace myself for the pull. He did it before I could react, and I gasped in relief when the burning was gone.

Anger and pure adrenaline from the fall flowed fast and hard through my veins, fueling my next move. With the silver in my leg gone, I was up, on my feet, and in the guy's face before anyone could blink. We weren't exactly eye level, but I glared so hard at him I imagined his head exploding.

"You shouldn't have done that," I growled, still fighting for control.

The guy's blue-grey eyes widened to dinner plates, realizing how close I had gotten so fast. I'm sure the ring of red in my eyes did a number on his sanity as well. My body practically vibrated, fighting for that control that I needed. The…_tests_ the Moroi scientists did on me were based off of this – if I could control myself. Normally they'd try meaningless taunts and threats on my life. Physical attack was never attempted, so I was glad this wasn't a test, otherwise I'd already be dead-dead.

Two strong arms wrapped around me and dragged me away from the guy. I was about to struggle when I got a whiff of familiar aftershave. I stopped, focusing on the fact that if I struggled and went in for the "kill", I was going to hurt Dimitri. I closed my eyes, forcing that shadow in my heart back down. I took a deep breath and let all of my muscles relax.

"She…she really is a Strigoi," the leader guy gasped, all of them taking another step back. "How…are you still alive?" That question was directed toward Dimitri, but he ignored it.

"Get out of here." His voice was that sexy order-you-around voice that I loved so much. "Your money will be distributed as specified. Your jobs are done here. Leave. Now."

With a few hesitated glances in our direction, they slowly made their way out the large barn door. I could still hear the footsteps, even after several minutes of silence between Dimitri and I.

"Are you okay?" he asked, breathe soft against my ear.

I nodded. "I'm in control." I tried to budge his grip, but he wouldn't move. Even as a Strigoi, I could easily move his arms away without a problem. But seeing as though I could break him, I avoided the super-human strength. "Dimitri, I'm fine."

After another second or two, his grip slipped from around my arms and fell to his sides. We didn't move for a second, the both of us trying to control our breathing and heart rate. Even standing a few feet from him, I could hear his heart beat if I focused solely on the rythmatic tempo.

"We need to get to the next check-point," he said at last. "There isn't much time before the sun rises and they send Guardians after us."

"I don't think I said it before, but I'll say it now." I turned to face him. "Go back."

"What?" He looked genuinely surprised.

"I want you to go back. You will not risk your life for a dead end job Lissa's put you on. You all have risked too much as it is and you have to go back." I sighed, having said all that in one breath – strangely enough, it didn't feel like I was out of breath like I thought I should be. "Stick to the compulsion idea. They'll think you're telling the truth if Adrian and Lissa say so, seeing as though they are the only Spirit users we know."

The look that suddenly appeared in his eyes told me he pieced it all together. "You did that on purpose, and without telling Lissa why." I looked up at him guiltily but didn't deny it. "You must have figured they'd believe the compulsion idea, because they had never tested it. You put up a secret plan on our secret plan. You put a lie over a lie."

"Why are you so surprised if it's coming from a monster like me?"

"That's not what I said, Rose."

"You didn't have to. I can read you, Dimitri. I know your movements and speech like I know my left arm." I tapped my left arm in order to make my point. I also noticed there was something there that hadn't been there before. I looked down and seen a rather simple black, leather watch. "Well…that's new." My eyes were back on him, but he had that Guardian mask on.

"It's how we'll communicate. There's a wireless, untraceable signal that transmits from the watch to that speaker in your ear."

I looked from the watch to him a few times. "Why?" His gaze didn't falter. I continued. "Why are you doing this?"

He stepped closer, so our bodies were almost touching. His gaze was so intense I thought I'd melt under it. I couldn't read what he was feeling because of that stupid mask, but I could feel…something radiating from him like he was a heat source.

"Because the Princess asked me to. And because you mean too much to her to lose." Not the answer I was hoping for.

"That's why you're doing this? Because you know it will keep Lissa happy. And what if I died tonight, Dimitri? Would your mission be a failure? Would you hate my memory for what I was and because I couldn't keep your promise to Lissa?" I scuffed, taking a step away from him, suddenly not wanting to be close to him. "This is ridiculous. _You're_ ridiculous! I can't believe you wouldn't do this simply because it's me."

He raised a brow, but every part of his demeanor told me my words stung. "Which is it? Are you upset because I didn't come in spite of you, or that I came in the first place?"

I considered it. "Both. I don't want you here, but if you're going to insist on being here, I'd be considerate of you to not think about your duty to the Princess, because it's just as much as a betrayal to me as your flirting with Anita Jandura."

Knife left forgotten on the ground – though it might as well as been shoved violently into my chest – I made a point of walking completely around him to follow the divers' path out of the large barn doors. He may be smart, but that was the dumbest thing he could have ever done: assume that I was incompetent when it came to feeling.

**Lissa's POV (A week later…)**

"I don't like this. They'll catch us if we meet in open places."

Christian sighed. "No one likes it, Liss. But if we're going to find…Dimitri, we need to do it." Christian was about to say them, as in Rose and Dimitri both. We decided that Rose's name was too dangerous to bring up. So, we used Dimitri's rescue as an excuse to keep the Court distracted.

"If he's even alive," Adrian commented, taking a drink from his whiskey.

Christian glared. "That's not helping, Adrian. Why don't you take your smell in a different room if you're not going to be supportive?"

Adrian continued to lounge lazily against the mini bar in the dining hall. "Hey, I am being supportive. To have an accurate look on your situation, you need a balanced opposition. Which, in this case, would be Dimitri's death. So, I'm helping the opposition."

"You understand that made no sense what-so-ever, right?" Eddie asked, shaking his head.

"It didn't have to. All I care about is-"

"Yourself," Christian finished for him.

Adrian's smirk tipped into a frown, his eyes matching Christian's glare.

"Guys, stop." Mia walked up, holding the paperwork we were waiting for. "If we're going to find him, we need to stick together. And that means not fighting around Lissa. She has Elections coming up and she'll need your support more than anything."

I smiled a gratefully. "Thanks, Mia."

She winked. "You need to keep a tighter leash on your men."

"Hey! She's only got one man," Christian argued.

"And yet all of her Guardians are male."

That shut them up. Hopefully it would stay that way.

"Okay." I broke the silence, turning once again to Mia. "So, I take it you found what we were looking for?"

Mia nodded. "I did. And more."

"Is it good or bad?" Eddie asked, voicing my own thoughts.

"Well, both, actually." She flipped open the first folder, showing Dimitri's last report before the plane incident. "His last report says he wasn't planning on retirement until necessary."

"Does it really say that?" Adrian asked, that smirk returning.

"Well, in summarization, yes. He didn't state in these files why, but he repeatedly said that Rose was an 'innocent victim'" – she used air quotes – "and that she should have the right to regain her trust. That would look like he'd want to go with her and help her escape."

"But the plane event looked like an accident," Eddie said, his voice making it sound like that's exactly what her hoped it looked like. Eddie and Adrian were a part of the plan all along, but that was little to Rose's knowledge at the time. It was like what she said to me through the bond that night: _The little you know, the better._

"Don't worry, Eddie. That's what it looked like, but the compulsion detail gives them another twist to consider, making him look innocent as well."

"Point to Rose," Christian said with a surprised yet approving look on his face.

Mia continued: "He also stated why he believed Lissa is the right person to take the thrown. He made great points supporting her and her ideas for our race."

"That's great and all, but that's not what we sent you for," Christian pointed out.

"And you said hints to where Dimitri could be wasn't stated in the report," I added. "I guess it really is a dead end."

Her smile, however, grew. "I said that information wasn't listed in _these files_. That's why I said I found what we were looking for _and more_."

I took the file she held out to me, and I skimmed over the words. A smile touched my lips. Hope surged through me, igniting the force under my next words: "We need to send these papers to the council. Then maybe this will promote the search for Dimitri."

"Or his body," Adrian said, pushing off against the bar to read over my shoulder. "Although, I will admit this could help turn their views to see the situation how we see it."

I smiled wider, actually happy that he was seeing things in a different light too.

"Aren't we supposed to be keeping them hidden?" Eddie asked, taking the file from my and reading it over. "This information will lead Court right to them. All it takes is one phone call and every Guardian in Russia will be all over the place, and on high alert."

I smirked this time. "That's the idea."

**End. **

**Yes, you read that right. That's the end of the chapter. It's a little longer than the others, and I'm a little surprised I was able to get it up so quickly. But, hey! Shit happens! Lol**

**I hope you all liked. You got a glimpse of Rose's control (or lack there-of), Dimitri's confusing reasoning for helping Rose, and Lissa's plan to hide her friends from the government she is to take control over soon enough. The next chapter will continue where this one left off a week after their escape but it will be back to Rose's POV. **

**Well, the next one should be up soon, but hang in there until then. **

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	5. Chapter 5

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet an Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**This chapter isn't so much and action-packed one, but a fill-in one. It's going to keep you up to date on Dimitri and Rose's status – mental and physical. Sydney will be making an entrance, as well as Rose's parents! (We all know how well that went in the books… lol)**

**Though I wasn't sure about doing it at first, there will be some lovey-dovey, Rose and Dimitri action in this chapter. Nothing like the first or third books, but kissing plays a big factor. As well as another twist, which I'm 99% sure you guys will get a kick out of. Haha! This should be interesting to read your reviews. Seriously though, for the cliffy at the end (trust me, there will be one), I want to know what you think, especially on how Rose is developing his "powers" – if you want to call them that. **

**Thanks a lot! **

**Here's the next chapter:**

**Rose's POV**

It's been a week since our rough landing in the barn (in a very creepy metaphorical as well as literal matter-of-speaking). Dimitri and I haven't said much to each other. Though we did have a rather long discussion on how and why my eyes changed. The ring of red seemed to dissipate, and I figured it was because the Strigoi blood from Natalie was finally wearing off. Anyone's guess was as good as mine at this point. I didn't tell Dimitri my theory, but he was as confused as I was.

Five days ago, we met up with an Alchemist. They were the people – humans – that cleaned up after us when Strigoi were killed. They may hate Strigoi and all that they do as much us, but they hate Moroi and Dhampirs just the same. I couldn't tell you why exactly, but we are still seen as "creatures of the night" to them. It's actually almost laughable that this particular Alchemist, Sydney Sage, seems to have formed a kind of bond with me, considering I'm a hybrid of all the things she hates. When I asked her why she was so comfortable around me, she said it was because I had more humanity than any other Strigoi, and I was worth saving. I never asked why or how she was betraying her own kind to save me – I was just grateful for the help in getting Dimitri and I under the radar.

In one week's time, we managed to avoid Strigoi and Guardians all together. Rather than traveling from city to city, we traveled from state to state, being sure to have as little contact with the world outside our motel as possible. Sydney always called ahead to her "contact" before making a move – like, say, moving from place to place. Jumping states every other day was a lot of work, as well as trying to stay occupied in the meantime. Especially if I wasn't allowed to show my face in daylight.

That was something else that didn't make sense but actually helped us move around. I can walk around in the daylight without my skin burning off. This helped us in avoiding Guardians because they assumed that I could only walk around at night. Staying in direct sunlight longer than a few hours was irritating, but there was no flesh burning. Because of my "Dhampir diet", I needed some sleep every now and then, as in sleep for six hours and be able to run around on that for several days. A lot of the times I would research the next city we could travel to and keep an ear open around the motel while Dimitri and Sydney slept. It wasn't very exciting, but the lap top really kept the hours flying by.

My hearing has been getting me into some trouble lately. Once I woke my rather quiet company from sleep because I had heard some rustling. It was from a room across the building, but it sounded like it was right outside our door. At that point, Sydney advised me to use the time I had to kill while they slept to practice honing in on my hearing skill. I took her advice and was getting better every day. One night it was my turn to sleep and wasn't succeeding in catching any. But I guess I was still for so long, Dimitri and Sydney must have thought I was asleep. They started talking about a man named Abe. He was somehow connected to me, but they didn't give enough information for me to put anything together completely. From what I did manage to gather, I guess he was calling most of the shots in our safety. And I guess he was coming to meet up with us soon.

Right now it was late in the night, exactly a week from when we'd escaped the plane. I was on watch again, but was having trouble keeping myself busy and quiet. I started to absentmindedly drum my fingers against the small table in the corner of the room. Seconds later, Dimitri was sitting straight up in his make-shift bed on the floor. Moon light showed through the sides of the curtain, letting in minimal light. His eyes darted around, looking for any potential danger. I raised my hands in the universal signal for surrender.

"Sorry. I'm bored." I'm sure he had guessed that, but I didn't want him jumping me in the middle of the night. That sentence sounded so weird to me, and yet the double meaning for the word "jumping" sounded…seductive, in a way.

He visibly relaxed a little, and shifted to a more comfortable sitting position. "Why don't you try sleeping? I can take watch for a few hours."

I shook my head. "You need it more than me. Besides, I may have only slept six hours last night, but I still feel pretty well rested – kind of like a high-powered energy bunny on crack." That got the tiniest of smiles out of him.

Again, absentmindedly, I shifted the gifts from my friends that I received for my eighteen birthday. I don't know how Dimitri managed it, but he had kept them safe throughout our entire ordeal with the plane. I was surprised to find out they never fell out of his pocket in his duster.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, standing up and quietly walking to the mini fridge on the opposite side of the room. The only bed in the room sat awkwardly in the center of the small, pitiful room that was the motel's "finest". The door was directly across from me with a make-shift kitchen to the left of it. On the opposite side was where I sat at the small table provided for eating and such.

I shook my head when he looked over for confirmation. Then, I couldn't help but ask. "Are you afraid I'll slip up?"

He walked back over with a bottle of water. "What do you mean?"

"Are you afraid I'll turn into…?" I paused. "Well, more or less give in to the cravings?" It was a sketchy question because if he asked me that same question I'm not sure what my answer would be. I was afraid of suddenly snapping and being that monster the people at Court presumed me to be, but I knew I had a good enough grip on my humanity and love for life that I wouldn't let that happen.

He was as hesitant to answer as I would have expected. The bottle in his hand was left forgotten as he regarded me silently. "I think you are in control now. That's all that matters."

I flashed him a skeptical look. "But you think I'll eventually slip?"

"I'm saying I know you well enough to see when you will lose control." He opened his water, but paused in taking a drink. "I also know that your humanity and the mere fact that still have a grip on it is…remarkable. Of all the reasons for you not wanting blood in your died, that's the one thing that will keep you in control." He finally took a drink of his water.

I sighed, not saying anything. I pulled my knees to my chest, still sitting in the chair at the table. I placed my chin on my knees, thinking hard about his words.

Minutes may have passed before either of us so much as moved. At first I thought he had gone back to sleep. A glance in his direction told me otherwise. From the slight brightness of the moonlight, I saw his deep brown eyes on me, studying my closely. At first my first reaction was to attempt slinking away from his gaze, feeling as though he was trying to find something to accuse me of. Then I felt like he was simply watching, waiting for me calm down from the tension he sensed coming from me. I felt better realizing he was only making sure I was okay.

Then, I suddenly felt bad for that fight we had the other day, like the anger I felt never happened. It was stupid of me to think he was only here because Lissa asked. Why he couldn't tell me his reasoning for helping me wasn't important; what was important was that he was here. He was here because he cared, and because he felt the need to protect anyone, whether that be me, Lissa, or even Sydney. It was in his nature to care, and that's what I loved about him.

Carefully, I crawled from my spot on the chair, slowly making my way over to him, afraid if I moved too fast I'd spook him somehow. I knelt in front of him, holding his gaze for along second before averting my eyes toward my hands in my lap.

"I'm…sorry about the other day, when I accused you being here for Lissa instead of me. It wasn't right of me to say. I know you are doing it because Lissa asked, but I know my friends are just trying to help me out of the life in a cell. I know you are, too. I was just so hyped up on that jerks attempt at 'keeping himself safe' I wasn't really…" I hesitated with my next words, afraid of what kind of effect it would have on the other conversation we had moment ago.

"In control?" he guessed, drawing me back toward reality.

I met his eyes again and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I was angry and flustered because of the fall, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'm not even sure why I got so mad. It was like I was channeling that anger from somewhere else."

He considered my words, but didn't say anything. He just reached up with one hand to brush a lock of hair from my eyes, his fingers lingering in my hair. The gesture itself was sweet and sincere, and it actually got my heart to flutter at an unnatural rate.

"What do you say we take a quick trip to a diner for breakfast at first light? Get you out of this motel and walk around public?" A smile touched his lips. "Don't want you turning into an anti-social, cave dweller like me."

I smiled, too, the action seeming so natural around him. It felt great to get back to a friendly pace with him, because if it was just me out here hiding alone, I don't know what I'd do or how I'd handle any of it without him. "Yeah, sounds good."

That hand that was in my hair cupped my cheek, his thumb creasing the flesh there very gently. I heart pounded louder, drawing heat into my cheeks. I turned away, not particularly liking the idea of him seeming me blush. He drew my face back with a finger under my chin, eyes showing me everything that he was feeling for me at that moment.

"That color looks good on you," he said gently, smiling all over again. It was one of those breath taking smiles that he saved especially for me.

Before I could react, he leaned forward and kissed the pink tainted flesh on my cheek. After lingering on my right cheek for a few moments, he moved and treated the other the same way. He only pulled away a few centimeters, his face still very, very close mine. Our noses brushed ever so slightly before I felt his lips on mine, soft and tasted fresh like his water.

It was very tender and loving I thought I was melting in his hands. It's been three months since I had the pleasure of kissing his man, and it was like it was being starved of a necessity. His other hand found my lower back, pulling me closer to him. This kiss was nothing like what we shared that night in his room – whatever that was – when we were under Victor's spell. This was some very similar, minus the animal passion; it meant something different but with the same actions. I don't know how to describe it but, it was something…amazing.

His tongue flicked across my bottom lip, asking – no, begging – to explore. Not hesitating, I allowed him to explore, feeling every emotion that had to do with love run through my body at high speed. I know it wouldn't come close to the near sexual intentions that happened before, but it was pure bliss all the same.

Things started to heat up after exploring each other's mouths and bodies. There wasn't any…severe exploring, but hands were roaming and I couldn't stop a couple giggles from escaping my lips. I thought for sure Sydney was going to wake up and discover us making out on the floor not six feet from her. Thankfully, though, that didn't happen.

The kissing continued to the point where we were almost breathless, neither of us moving closer or farther away from each other – all it 'security purposes'. Then, it was like God hated me and something just had to go wrong.

"Ow." Dimitri pulled away abruptly, tenderly touching his lip. Before he pulled his hand away, the smell hit me like he slapped me across the face.

Blood. Dimitri's blood. And it…it smelled intoxicating.

**End.**

**I love leaving you guys on a cliffhanger… Evil, I know. **

**I actually really like this chapter. Well, mainly because of the DimitrixRose fluff, but also because of the twist. The next chapter is pretty much about getting Rose under control. Sydney will be taking the reins on this run-away horse, so to speak. You'll see what I mean. ;)**

**I can't wait to see what you guys have to say about this one. XD**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	6. Chapter 6

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Okay, so after this chapter there's going to be a lot of meeting new people – i.e. Abe, Mahkail, Osaka and her mate…person. Can't recall his name (not even sure if I spelled her name right, but let's just roll with it). And due to these details, there's going to be a lot of time-skipping. I really don't have much inspiration to go through how the books say they met, so I'm going to do small snippets of my versions. Deal? Okay.**

**With that said, here's chapter six:**

**Dimitri's POV**

Good God. I could die a happy man. Kissing Rose again after so long was…heavenly. It was like completing something in my world, making me feel whole again in some way.

A sudden small pinch on my lip made me pull away.

"Ow." I put my finger to my lip. I pulled it away.

And saw crimson blood.

I didn't think of it at first, but realized there was a blood-sensitive Strigoi in front of me. My eyes strained on Rose, waiting to see what she would do. If it was any other Strigoi, I'd have them pinned in seconds. But this was my Roza; I didn't have the stomach or heart to do something like that to her.

I watched her eyes trail intently on the blood on my lip, staring at it like it was food.

"Rose?"

Her gaze never faltered. I could tell by the look on her face she was ragging a war with herself, fighting for whatever control she had left. She moved faster than my eyes could follow; all I felt was her vice-like grip clutching my hand (with the drop of blood on it) a little too tightly. My other hand gripped hers, trying to pry it away, but her strength really was something unnatural – even for a Strigoi.

"Rose, let go."

Using strength beyond my own, she forced my hand to her lips, carefully taking that finger into her mouth. "Rose, stop!" I tried to pull away but it was no use.

I heard Sydney stir from the bed close by. "What's going on?"

The new voice got Rose's attention. She snapped her head up, gazing at Sydney's stirring form for a moment. In the dim light, I could see her eyes were red again, and they held pain…and fear; an emotion Strigoi don't normally possess.

"Rose." I spoke gently, but I might as well have yelled at her. She flinched away from me, recoiling as if I'd burned her. Without any kind of warning, she pushed off the ground and propelled her body, literally flying backwards and hitting the wall behind her. The thud brought Sydney to her feet in an instant, making a dash for the lights.

I stood, turning toward her. "Wait, Sydney."

She paused, hand over the light switch. "What? Why? What is it?"

A million things ran though my head as I tried to quickly come up with a logical answer. There wasn't one.

"It's Rose. She's-"

"Gone."

She flicked on the lights as we both gazed at the open window, the moonlight pouring through as a breeze blew the curtains open. The place where Rose's body hit the wall was vacant. She _was_ gone.

Up until now, everything had felt like it was moving in slow motion. Now, time slammed into a high-speed pace forward; I was afraid I couldn't keep up.

"What the hell is going on? Where'd she go?"

I cursed in Russian, though regretted it when I realized she could understand me. I grabbed my duster and belt that held my stack. I was hoping to never have to use it, but I like to arrive prepared for anything.

Sydney grabbed me by the arm, making my halt in my tracks. "Dimitri, talk to me? What happened?"

I pulled out my phone, checking the time, hoping to dodge all the questions coming my way. But apparently, Sydney is relentless.

"Why did Rose suddenly freak out? I thought she was fine earlier; did someone get in?" I paused looking her in the eye. Her gaze flickered to my still bleeding lip. She frowned further. "What happen to your lip?"

I said nothing, watching realization flutter over the face. "No, that's not it, is it? Rose really did flip her lid didn't she?"

My gaze hardened, putting force and anger into my voice. "No."

"Then what?" Her eyes widened, regret and worry echoing my expressions. "Wait… That blood on your lip; Rose freaking out… Oh, God. Don't tell me…"

I pulled my arm from her grip. I rushed to the window just in time to see Rose stumble through so bushes a few yards from the motel. There was a small forest, and she was heading right into it. "Damn."

"Where'd she go?"

"Out to the woods." I stalked quickly to the door just as her phone rang. "If that's Abe, tell him we need a new location. Stay here and wait until I get back." I was out the door and running past the rather startled night clerk before she could respond. I ran out into the parking lot, barely dodging a car that was pulling up to the motel. I didn't stop or slow down to apologize; I had a runaway vampire on my hands.

I ran as fast as I could into the woods, dodging branches and logs, pushing my body to move faster and faster. My hopes went out to Rose and that she was okay. There's no telling what she could do in that state of mind. It didn't cross my mind once throughout this past week that she could be a killer, but maybe…maybe I was wrong.

It wasn't for several minutes that finally caught up to her. She was on her hands and knees, her head hunched over while her body shook frantically. I could only imagine what she was experiencing.

She must have heard me because she snapped to attention, looking around for the source. What happened back in the room must have messed with the senses, otherwise she would know exactly where I was. She looked confused, hurt and…well, lost (in more than one way). I tried to approach her quietly but she heard me coming. She snapped her head around so fast I thought it might fall off. Her eyes had that angry red tint, face menacing. As soon as she realized it was me, she faltered, her face softening and she looked more scared than anything.

I put my hands up in surrender, motioning for her to stay calm. "Rose, relax. It's just me."

I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me because as quickly as the red in her eyes appeared, it was gone; almost like it was never there. Strange.

"Rose, just…take a deep breathe. It's okay now." I couldn't see that well anymore, seeing as though she moved out of the moonlight. All I could make out was the black shadows that covered her body. I barely moved my foot forward, but she took several move steps away.

"No! Stop! Don't come closer." Her voice sounded inhumane, like she was someone else. "I…I can smell it on you… It's drawing me in. Please… Please, go back. Get away from me. I-I…I don't want to hurt you…" Her voice was pleading. I saw a tear slip down her cheek and I wanted nothing more than to hold her to me and comfort her. Then I saw something that hadn't been there before: fangs. As she moved her mouth I could barely make them out, poking out from her lips.

I nodded, taking one stop back. "Okay, I won't come to you. Just…don't move, okay? We don't want anyone getting hurt."

She complied, not looking away from my eyes. I hated seeing her like this, so weak and fragile to the touch. This wasn't the Rose that I fell in love with – she's changed from a protector to someone I needed to protect.

After a few seconds of heavy silence, she said, "I can smell it on you…" Her voice was shaky, and yet I could sense power evolving from it. "I couldn't smell it even when we were that close. But I smell it now… Now I-" Her head snapped to her right. "Whose there?"

Timidly, I saw Sydney step out of the shadows. She was standing right behind Rose about as far away from her as I was. I glared at the Alchemist, telling her with my eyes that I wasn't happy that she didn't stay in the motel room.

"Rose?" Sydney's voice was shaky with fear, but she held firm to her ground, even when Rose looked like she was going to lunge. "Rose, its Sydney. I'm no Guardian; you know I can't hurt you."

"We aren't going to hurt you Rose." I stepped closer, but she was back to me in a flash.

"No! You… I can smell it on you. The blood… It tasted…" She shook her head, looking frantically from me to Sydney. "Just leave me alone!"

Sydney flinched what Rose raised her voice, but didn't back down. "You can smell blood on him?" She gestured to me, the look in her eyes telling me to back off.

Rose nodded, tears still flowing down her face. "Yes. Please… Stay away. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"Rose, look at me." Sydney all but ordered her, her voice firm but gentle, showing she meant business. Hesitantly, after flashing another warning glance at me, Rose complied. "There's no blood on me. See?" She showed off her arms, moving slowly in a circle so we could see there was in fact no blood on her. "Nothing. Why don't you come this way and have a chance to calm down?"

Rose didn't say anything or do anything. She watched Sydney with curious eyes, looking as though she'd rather be near her rather than me.

"Can you smell the blood on his lip?" Sydney asked.

Rose nodded lightly.

"Does the smell of blood bother you?"

She shook her head this time and she shoulders slumped, ashamed of the truth. "I…like it."

Sydney saw it, too. "No, that's okay. That's natural. You're meant to like the smell of…blood. It's who you are now." She tried to smile reassuringly. "I know it's scary and you don't want to hurt anyone, but we want to help you."

Her back was to me now, so I decided it was time to take action. Just as I was about to move, Sydney shot me a look. "No, Dimitri!" I halted, freezing as Rose turned to me again. Her gaze was hard; and yet gentle. Like she was upset, but knew she didn't want to direct that at me. Our conversation from earlier came back to life.

"Rose, I forgive you."

She looked at me, confused; her defensive stance I taught her all those months ago never faltered.

"I forgive you for getting upset the other day. I know you weren't thinking and I understand that you didn't mean it. I'm sorry about what happened tonight. It was my fault."

She looked shocked, but didn't say anything against it. She watched me with curious eyes, and I could see that battle still raging behind her beautiful brown orbs.

I bit the inside of my lip, which was beyond stupid of me to do. "Ah, damn." I felt more blood leak from the wound, the taste of iron almost making me gag.

Rose visibly flinched, tensing up and looking like she wanted to be somewhere else.

"Rose, we are the only ones that can help you," Sydney said, but Rose kept her eyes on me. "If you don't want to hurt him, come to me. There isn't any blood on me. I'll take you to the car and we'll sit there. Just don't think about the smell."

Sydney's performance was…surprising. Here I am, one of the highly experienced guardians that has practiced talk as a distraction and used a stack to drive a hole into a monster's heart, yet I couldn't get any words past my lips or make a move without regretting it. Sydney, on the other hand, was the elite Guardian here. She was successfully talking Rose out of running, as well as encouraging her – in her unstable condition – to approach her.

She was the bravest human I know.

"I…can still hurt you…if I can't control it." Rose was torn between me and Sydney, for obvious reasons.

"Rose, look," Sydney asked, her voice still radiating that sincere gentleness. Rose turned and we both watched as Sydney slowly and carefully pulled _my_ gun from under her coat.

My eyes widened, feeling that Guardian mask slipping. I quickly pattered down my belt, to confirm that the holster was empty. I narrowed my eyes, thinking hard. _When did she…?_ Then I got it: when she went for the lights back in the motel room.

"If I have to, I'll protect myself," she said, only holding the gun to show that she had it. I wouldn't doubt that she knew how to use one, but I knew she didn't want to pull that trigger under any circumstances. She replaced it in her cost, not bothering to conceal it. "Dimitri doesn't want you to feel uncomfortable, so come to me. It'll okay. You won't hurt me, Rose."

Sydney opened her arms as a "come-to-me" gesture. Rose contemplated; a physical battle for control as well as a mental battle for trust raged in her eyes. Then, slowly, she moved. One step toward Sydney, slow and steady.

Sydney nodded, smiling encouragingly. "I want to make sure you're okay. If you're that Hathaway I've heard so much about, you understand why I only want to protect you and others."

That was a complete lie. I knew Sydney was only saying those things to calm Rose down, and yet I knew she meant it. She really does care about Rose, and I knew she wanted her to be okay. I also know that it was an Alchemist's duty to protect the innocents that come into harm's way of Strigoi. Or Moroi.

Rose kept taking slow steady steps, continuing to Sydney. I followed just as slowly, mainly to make sure she didn't do something stupid.

Rose made it to Sydney, both of them at eye level. Sydney watched Rose's eyes, looking for signs of a threat. I watched Rose's posture, waiting for anything in her stance to tip me off that she was going to pounce. Nothing showed through. Instead, my Roza collapsed into the Alchemists arms, crying into her chest.

I visibly relaxed, though not dropping my guard.

It was finally over.

**That's the end. For now. I mean there's going to be more chapters! It would be cruel to stop the story here and say "Use your imagination!" lol**

**Anyway, what do you think? I wanted to give Rose a quick recovery from the 'incident', let's call it. I figured Dimitri would be the one to dwell on the situation, seeing as though we feels responsible. There's going to be a whole chapter on his turmoil and fears later on, as well as what rose does to help him bounce back. **

**Sorry about how short this one is. I honesty had the last chapter and this chapter as one at first. Then I decided that it was too long. So, this kind of evened it out for me. **

**As always, let me know your thoughts on the progress with my some-what masterpiece.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	7. Chapter 7

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**I loved the suggestions you guys had is to where to go from here. I actually never thought of that and decided the ideas could be useful. If it's not in this chapter, it will show up.**

**Rose's POV**

Yesterday was…rough. My eyes may have changed colors last night, but I guess that was something I could control when I drank…blood. The sweet aroma of blood is what triggers the red-rigged eyes, but resting and eating human food dulls the craving – slightly. I'm still trying to get used to the idea of it all, but, like Sydney had said, it was a part of my life now. I was going to need to adjust if I was to survive these new experiences – and, you know, life in general.

"Rose, are you ready?" Dimitri was gazing at me from the doorway of our new room of the more resent Motel we moved to late last night.

I turned, giving him a quizzed look. "For what?"

"Yeah, I thought we were going to keep a low profile after Rose's 'panic attack' last night?" Sydney said, looking as confused as I was.

When we returned to the other motel, Sydney explained to the worried looking clerk that I had a 'panic attack', and that because I was a 'nervous wreck' we were going to leave for the night. With that, we jumped state, arriving at this Motel only a few hours ago. It was about 9:30 in the morning.

Sydney and I were sitting at the table, drinking so coffee she managed to swipe when going to make a call to this man Abe. (Still don't know who he is, but I'm also still waiting for him to show up.)

"I promised Rose a breakfast at a diner in town, and I thought it would be a good way to…get our minds off last night." The look on his face told me her was serious, but his voice held encouragement and readiness.

Sydney sighed, obviously not liking the idea. "Well, you two go. I'm going to make another call and see where we're at on the police radar, as well as the Guardian one." She turned to me, smiling. "You deserve a nice day of relaxing after what happened last night. Putting some food in you system is probably a good idea, too."

I felt a smile twitch on my lips. "Okay." I got up, placing my not empty coffee cup in the trash. I grabbed my sun glasses and my coat. Even though it was rather nice out, the sun still bugged my eyes, especially when it's relentless and radiates unbearable heat. I walked up toward Dimitri, flashing Sydney a glace over my shoulder before following him out the door.

Walking to the car, I had to ask. "Are we really going to breakfast, or did you just drag my away to lecture me?"

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "I wanted to take you to breakfast."

He's dodging the question. "Tell me the truth, Dimitri." I was weird to say his name in such a serious way. Normally I'd call him "Comrade" and tease him about kidnapping me. But I knew now wasn't the time for jokes.

He took my seriousness…well, seriously, taking a deep breath and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's get through breakfast, and then I'll tell you where we are going after. Deal?"

I considered it. "Yeah, deal."

We walked into the diner, the both of us on alert but keeping our postures subtle. That was something I loved about Dimitri. He knew when and where to act, and when to "go under cover" and put his Guardian mask. No one really paid any attention to us as we made our way to a seat in the corner, where we could still see the door as well as the kitchen and other booths around the restaurant.

We sat down at the booth, tense and ready to fight. I picked up a menu, pretending to pick something to eat. Dimitri kept an eye on the room while he pretended to do the same.

"Hello, there!" a way too cheerful voice said suddenly, scaring the crap out of me. I lumped farther back in the booth, putting distance between me and whoever it was standing next to me. Every nerve in my body was on high alert, ready to tear apart this…waitress?

My senses on high alert calmed slightly, taking in the slightly freaked out waitress standing next to me. I sighed and turned my back to her, taking deep breathes to suppress that...inner me. Again.

"She's a bit jumpy," Dimitri said quickly, recovering for my own slip up. "You startled her, but thanks for checking on us." He flashed her a smile and I felt my stomach twitch with jealousy.

_No, bad stomach,_ I thought. _Why is this happening? It's like my senses and emotions are going off the scale._

"Oh, well sorry about that." She smiled, looking pointedly at Dimitri. I guess it wasn't just me that fell victim to his good looks and charm. "What can I get you to drink?"

"I'll have coffee; black, please."

She nodded, jotting it down on her note pad. "And you?" this time she was looking at me but she was suddenly less pleasant.

"I'll have a coke please."

She nodded again and walked away.

"She didn't write it down!" I exclaimed, and then quickly checked over my shoulder to make sure she hadn't heard me. I got some weird and rather startled looks from the booth behind me, but I ignored that. "Five bucks says I don't get my drink and she makes way too many trips back here." I smirked at him, lifting my sunglasses from my eyes and placed them on top of my head. "I swear to god she was melting under your gaze," I said teasingly, batting my eyes like they do in those cartoons.

He rolled his eyes. "Enough. She hasn't realized you're and 'evil creature of the night' yet, so you should be geartful. I'd go as far as to say it lucky." A smile barely touched his lips at his own joke.

I rolled my eyes this time. "Whatever."

Sure enough, not two minutes later, she came back with a coffee cup in one hand and a pot of coffee in the other. She set it down in front of Dimitri, smiling widely as she poured his coffee. "Is there anything else I can get you, handsome?" she asked him, puffing her chest out like she was getting ready to scream.

I think I was going to be the one screaming. She totally forgot about my drink! Not to mention she's drooling over my Godly partner.

I looked pointedly at Dimitri as if to say I had better get my drink or I'm leaving and you can flirt behind my back. I wasn't sure if he got any of that, but he seemed to pick up on my glare.

"Yes, actually," he started saying to the sl – I mean, _waitress_, "Rose didn't get her Coke, and we could use a minute to decide what we want."

He smiled again and turned back to his menu, dismissing her completely. A little bewildered, she nodded. "I'll give you some time to decide." She glared at me – I glared back just as hard – as she passed me and moved to take another tables over.

I resisted the urge to slam my fist on the table. Then I recalled something.

I reached my hand over the table, holding up open. I gave him the "give me" gesture, like a child asking for candy. "You owe me five bucks."

He chuckled – actually chuckled! I hadn't hear it from him in so long, I wasn't even that surprised when he actually reach into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet. "You're…really going to give me the money?"

He nodded. "A deals a deal."

I pondered on that thought for a minute. "Speaking of deals, are you going to tell me where we're going next?"

He shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee. "Patience is a virtue, Roza." That may have been that stupid phrase from earlier, but I was so distracted by my nick name – or rather, real name only in Russian – to ask (again) what it really means.

I stuffed the five in my pocket, not bothered by it right now. "And can I ask when we will be going to do this…training?"

His face suddenly sported a frown, confused yet intrigued by my comment. "How did you know it was training?"

I smirked, reaching for his coffee and taking a sip, letting the hot liquid burn away the attraction for blood. "I didn't, Comrade." I replaced his coffee in front of him. "You just did. I simply took a stab in dark and guessed what it could be about. Judging by your heart rate, I'm also guessing Sydney doesn't know and you're wondering if somehow she found out?"

He froze, like he was just caught with his hand in the cookie jar. My smirk only grew.

"You can hear my heart rate?"

I nodded. "Yep." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder toward the kitchen. "I can also hear our waitress talking to another waitress, whispering very" – I paused searching for the right word that wouldn't piss me off too much – "_intimate_ things she'd like to do to you." As if on cue, there was giggling heard from behind me, and I was 99.9% sure it was said waitresses. (By the way, that word still pissed me off…)

I leaned closer to him over the table taking in his calm yet startled features. "I think…I think you're…blushing!" I burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. "I never thought I'd see the day! Dimitri Belikov is actually blushing…!" Another round of laughs got the eyes from others tables on us. Dimitri glanced around and silently apologized to our neighbors.

He then leaned down to where my head was on the table, giggles still erupting from my throat. "If that's the way you want to play then I guess we can skip training altogether and go back to the boring motel room with Sydney, playing ump-teenth games of Rummy and Texas Hold 'Em."

That got my attention. I snapped my head up, looking up at him the pleading eyes. "Anything but that. I don't know how many more nights of doing absolutely nothing in the pit of darkness I can take! You try staying up 36 hours with nothing to do – day in and day out!"

His serious face melted away, leaving behind another twitch of a smile. "That's what I thought."

Our whore waitress came back to take our orders; just to be safe that I was getting food, I had Dimitri order for me. (Still haven't gotten my damn drink!) We waited a while in comfortable silence, not saying much of anything. Our waitress came back three times with a pot of coffee for Dimitri – it was only the first time that she actually _remembered_ my Coke. In our comfortable silence, I figured I'd try to connect to Lissa. I've never tried to…'talk' to her at such a long distance, so I wasn't sure how well this would go.

I closed my eyes, relaxing against the seat, ignoring the aggravating squeak it made when I moved. I focused on finding Lissa, sorting through and pushing aside different things in my mind to link with Lissa.

_Lissa… Can you hear me?_ I thought, picturing Lissa's beautiful face in my mind. I didn't get a response for a few seconds.

Then, there was a twinge, like something else was searching but whizzed right by, barely missing me. I figured because Lissa didn't know where we were I couldn't hear her. But, because I know where her general location is, she can hear me. In a very twisted way this was making a lot of sense. 

_Liss, are you there?_ I I tried again, to no avail. I felt my face dip into a frown as frustration blew over me.

"Rose?"

I sighed, opening my eyes, watching Dimitri's expression turn from confusion to slight relief.

I forced a smile. "I'm fine. Trying to reach Lissa."

His mask came back, looking all business. "Did it work? Could you hear her?"

I sighed. "No. I couldn't reach her. She must be too far away."

He nodded, taking another sip of his coffee. He didn't say anything, but I knew he didn't need to. We both knew going in to this that we would have very limited to no contact with the others at Court. We also knew that we'd be on our own for a while. That thought alone was disturbing as well as…comforting, in a way. Time alone with Dimitri was more than okay with me, but the idea of hurting him wasn't.

"Order up!"

**-Page Break-**

We finished breakfast pretty fast, the both of us not liking being out in public that long. We tipped our waitress – much to my disagreement – and walked out, my hand in his. I made sure Miss Priss seen it as we walked by her and out the door. Flipping my sunglasses back onto my nose, Dimitri steered us in the opposite direction of where we came from.

"So, where are we doing this, Comrade?" I asked after a few minutes, bored again. "The woods, like animals?" I realized too late the other meaning behind my words, and had to let another laugh erupt from my lips when I got a glimpse at Dimitri's face.

"No, we're going someplace different. I spotted it on our way into town." His attention was back on the path in front of him. "No one will bother us that way. And no one will care if we…barrow their space."

I flashed him a quizzed look, but he ignored it, pushing on to an abandoned looking building.

The front of the building was rough looking. All of the windows and doors were boarded up, and the glass was busted in a lot of places. The building itself looked creepy and unwelcoming, and I suddenly had the urge to turn the other way and play those card games with Sydney after all.

"So, looks like no one's home," I said, turning around to head the other way. "Guess we should try somewhere else. Maybe we really should try that patch of trees on the other side of town."

"Not so fast, Roza," he said, grabbing my arm and dragging my back around the far side of the building. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

I huffed and followed after him. "You and your stupid sayings that make me actually think! Are you ever going to explain what they mean? Or keep it from me, like when you're swearing in Russian and won't tell me what it means?"

He laughed, turning one last corner on the building. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

I rolled my eyes. "You're lucky I actually know what that phrase means."

His smile dropped when he seen the back door. It was boarded off as well, along with several chains and bolts around where the door opens.

He grumbled something that sounded a lot like a profanity in Russian – probably to annoy me. "I guess we can try a window or something. There's no getting in this way." He turned to leave, but I was the one to grab his arm and stop him. I don't know what possessed me to suddenly do this for him, but I had the urge to please him and make him proud.

"What is it, Rose?"

I ignored him and approached the door, determined to make it open. I reached out for the door, taking the first board I could grab into my hand. Using the strength I gained, I ripped it off the door, taking most of the chains with it. I tossed it aside like I had just torn a strip of paper, rather than a large wooden board nailed to a solid object. I did take into account, however, that the chains were rather new for an old run-down building.

"You want to train that bad, fine. I'll get you in." I turned to him, taking in the shock in his eyes behind that mask. "But before we go any farther you're going to tell me what all of this is really about."

His face dropped to a more noticeable frown. "All of what, Rose? You should already know that we're running for our lives to keep you safe. Lissa is attempting to take the thrown. What more do you need?"

There was a significant change in his heart rate just then, telling me for sure that it was a lie. "You're lying, and you know you can't lie to me. There's something else, something you don't want me to know about. Tell me what it is or I'm going back and telling Sydney all about your little plan."

His fists clenched at his sides, reminding me that this man doesn't take threats lightly. "I'm doing this for you, Rose. I'm trying to make sure you don't hurt anyone, and last night was a reminder that you very well can and you won't realize it till its too late. I'm not just here to save your life, I'm here to save others. Lissa is doing her part, Sydney and I are doing ours, and – believe it or not, Rose – you're doing yours. By staying quiet, keeping out of sight and doing as I say."

My own temper was rising and I fought to keep it down. I almost flinched under his hard gaze but Rose Hathaway doesn't back down. Sadly though, I didn't have an argument for that (surprisingly). All I had was a repeat of my last words. I didn't want to fight him because I knew he'd win, but I was going to show him he's not winning that easily.

"And you know damn well that I didn't ask for any of this! I didn't ask any of you to do all of this for me. I know I'll be on the run for the rest of my life, but that doesn't mean you have too as well. You have done too much as it is; stop now and go back. I'll be fine on my own, once I find a safe route around the Guardians." Not a complete lie, but I was thinking on my feet. "You could have a normal life on Court; find someone who can give you the family you've wanted. You and I both know that won't happen with me." Sadness filled his eyes, but I had to say this before it consumed me; he had to know. "I can handle rude names, annoying comments and dirty looks for the rest of my pathetic life, but can't take dragging you down with me, Dimitri. I…I care about you way too much to even think about that. All I want now is for you to be happy, and live a life that will take you places you've never been. Being near me will get you nowhere – if anything it will bring death before your eyes that you won't want to see. There's no telling when I'll snap again, and it scares the living hell out of me to think that you will be close enough for me to snap your neck…" That train of thought actually brought a tear to my eye, and I quickly wiped it away before it fell and he could see it.

Dimitri, always being my knight and rock to cry on, stepped so close I could smell his intoxicating aftershave. I resisted the urge to shiver.

"Rose, you are the reason I'm here because I could never live with myself knowing that I left you out here to fend for yourself. You know how the Guardians are, Rose, they'll kill you on sight if they are ordered to do so." He lightly touched my arm, his fingers sliding gently over my bare arm. "I can't let you leave, Rose. Not with you being defenseless here."

"Then continue my training." I looked deeper into his eyes. "Show me how to defend myself."

"You don't need defending, Roza. You are already strong enough to fend off others." My smiled down at me, those infamous eyes twinkling. "I'm going to show you how to _defend others_."

Regardless of how confusing that statement was, I ripped off the rest of the chains and locks, none of which took much effort. We walked into the large building and it was bigger than I thought. It looked like all to the walls were knocked down except a few support beams. There were two other doors untouched, but they looked as rough as the rest of the room. I took in all of the closed doors and cobwebs. Surprisingly though, I didn't see anything like glass on the floor, or forgotten furniture you normally see in buildings like these.

"You must be Rose," a voice I didn't recognize came from across the room. I practically jumped out my skin, reminding myself that the first thing I should use is my ears and not my eyes when I walk into a new place. Bright lights flicked on from the high ceiling up above, making me cringe. "You can call me Abe. I'm sure you've heard about me."

A man I nice looking attire stood where the voice came from. He had tanned skin and dark hair like mine. He had an expensive looking, orange scarf around his neck, which I thought odd considering the weather here – humid one day, hot the next. What me by surprise the most was the person standing next to the man.

"Sydney?"

**End of Chapter.**

**You know you love me. Especially when I leave you hanging, haha. Maybe not.**

**Well, like always I want to know what you think and how it could be better – if there's major things wrong. You know, the usual work I like to make you do. It must be a horrible like for you… (Please note the sarcasm all over that.)**

**Anyway, you know the drill.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	8. Chapter 8

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**I don't know how long I can drag out this story without completely derailing, but I won't be switching POVs very much. For the most part it will be Rose, with the occasional Sydney, Lissa and Dimitri POVs. And if it is in there POVs, it's probably going to be very brief. I know, I'm a pain, but I'm no good when it comes to switching POVs…**

**PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING: I don't know if everyone seen my profile, but I have several other "creations" that I haven't updated in so long. I am going to be removing them from FanFiction because they are taunting me with their "hold" status. I will either deem them unworthy and delete the files all together, or I will simply save the stories and re-post them later on when I have the motivation to do so. I think there is a total of eight stories up right now. At least four of them need to go, and the other four will stay (obvious 'What If' and 'What Now' will remain up, as well as a couple others). The point is, I want to know if there is someone who really wants a particular story to stay. If not, then they will be removed. **

**Sorry about the long, boring speech. Figured I might as well tell the whole story. **

**But, anyway, here's the next one coming up:**

**Rose's POV**

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" I don't think I have ever been more confused in my life – though I can't be sure of that right now, seeing as though that's eighteen years of confusing moments to keep track of.

I looked from Dimitri, who had shut the rusted door behind us, to Sydney and this Abe guy across the room.

"If I could say something at this moment, I'd like to point out that we have limited time here in this town, as well as the fact that I put a lot of work into keeping the Guardians off your trail." His brown eyes shown with amusement. "So, if it's not too much trouble, I won't be sticking around much longer and would like to be assured that the…package is safe and isn't in need of anything else."

I raised a brow at him. "The 'package' had better not me code-word for, say, _me_." I snapped my gaze from his to Sydney, moving across the room. "Who is this guy anyway, Syd?"

She looked at him, the two of them meeting each other's eyes for a quick second. "She may not believe me if I tell her."

"And you think she'll believe _me_, Ms. Sage?" he asked with a bemused look. I bothered me that the way he said me sounded exactly how I had said it moments earlier – not in a mocking way, but rather casual.

Sydney glanced at me, as if processing his words. "I guess. But why me? Can't you get Belikov to do it?"

"He isn't trained to give and handle information, sweet Sydney." A smile that look all too much like my own. "You are. As the Alchemist here, you need to handle this."

She rolled her eyes, and with my super hearing, I heard her say, "I think there's too much of you in her."

My eyes widened for a minute then narrowed, my gaze directed in their general direction. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The pair of them were caught off guard, flinching slightly.

"You know, for the master of communication, that wasn't very smooth," Dimitri said with his own smirk, watching as Sydney glared at him.

"You want to take the podium, Belikov? I'm sure she'd love to hear it from you."

His smirk fell; cue Guardian mask.

I growled in frustration. "Please, someone tell me what's going on! Sydney, I thought you didn't know about this place."

She shrugged. "Dimitri knows how to keep a secret."

My eyes were on him. "Then…you pretended, back in the restaurant. You made me think I knew what you were up to. I was right about the training thing, but when I thought I was on a roll you let me think I was right." I pointed to the door. "Those chairs were way too new to be there for very long. They" I motioned to Abe and Sydney – "put them there, probably to test my strength."

Abe clapped his hands a few times, that ever present smirk on his face. "Somebody give the girl a metal."

I glared at him. "Stop that."

His brows rose. "Stop what?"

"Stop sounding like me; it's very creepy, especially since I don't know you."

This – for whatever reason – made him laugh. "I'm sorry, Rose. I can't stop."

"Why not?"

He didn't answer right away, and the whole room seemed to hang on every second of silence. "If your mother had let me be a part of your life, you'd know the answer to that question."

I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know my mother? Was she your Guardian once?"

A reminiscing look crossed his face, but as soon as it was there it vanished. "Oh, I'd say she was more than a Guardian in my eyes, kiz."

I was a little thrown by the last word her said. "'Kiz'… That sounds Turkish." And as soon as the words left my mouth, it was like all of the pieces to the puzzle where placed perfectly in order. His hair color, his skin tone, his personality… It all fit together. "Your…_my father_?"

He gazed happily at me, as if taking pride in the fact that I figured it out. "Yes, Rosemarie, I am."

I suddenly had the urge to back away from him, but stood my ground. What did I have to be afraid of? It's not like he had the power or muscle to hurt me. After all, he was just some dead-beat dad that never bothered to call of write to his only child for almost eighteen years – what power did he have over me?

"Why?" I asked, finally able to find my voice. I placed my own Guardian mask on, though it wasn't as strong as Dimitri's. "Why are we meeting just today? Where have you been for the last eighteen years of my life?"

He sighed. "I had to do what was right for you and your mother, kiz. I dabble with very dangerous people for a living, and because I'm good at what I do, I couldn't risk letting it go."

"You you'd rather let go of a life as a family rather than a job?"

He shook his head. "No! Nothing like that. I'm saying if I quit and chose to live a normal life with you and Janine, I would have put you both at greater risk." His eyes were pleading me to understand, and – much to my amazement – I was slowly starting to. "My line of work revolves around a dangerous world, one that would have gotten you killed long before you could walk if they knew you were my daughter. No one wanted you safe more than me, and I worked hard to keep it that way." He sighed, taking a quick glance around the building. "I guess this is the best that I can do for now. With the entire Guardian world on alert, it's better than death." He chuckled half-heartedly at his own joke.

Suddenly, I got it. He really was protecting me my whole life; he wasn't there, but at the same time, he was. He was thinking of my safety in the most secretive way, and it was to be admired. Not just his job itself, but what it stood for.

I cracked a smile – a real one, if you can believe it. "I guess that makes sense." I shrugged lazily when he looked at me in a surprised way. "I mean, I didn't like the way it was done, but I understand what it meant, and I see why you did it. Besides, no one else could pose as my old man, even if he tried. I guess I'm just going to have to face the facts: we are way too much alike for my own good."

A slow smile crept onto his face as I spoke, and then laughed at the end. "My, my. What have they done to you at the Academy? It seems as though they cured you insanity in such a short amount of time."

I laughed at that this time. "Or not."

He looked like he wanted to do something more than smile at me – I'm going to go with a hug – but he didn't, settling for a warm smile and a hand shake. "I'll be in touch with Sydney if you need anything. for now, I'm heading back to my post as the communication between the future Queen and you."

I nodded. "Tell her I miss her, and that she better stay safe and out of trouble while I'm gone."

He nodded to, sharing brief and simple 'good-byes' with Dimitri and Sydney before leaving the building.

I made a mental note that my smile didn't quite look like his, but I was definitely his daughter.

Dimitri stood closer to me, as if waiting to see what I'd do next. I smiled at him, showing him that I wasn't mad at him anymore – or anyone for that matter. I was just happy that things turned out the way they did. Meeting my dad may be a bigger leap that I would have initially thought.

Then, a thought occurred to me. "What does 'kiz' mean, anyway?"

Dimitri and Sydney exchanged a look. Then Sydney said, "It should be painfully obvious to you by now, Rose."

Dimitri's reaction was to laugh and walk off through one of the closed doors that looked more like a closet. After flicking on another small light and rummaging around for a second, he dragged out a few training mats.

A smile grew on my face. "Let the fun begin."

**Lissa's POV**

"So, how did it go?" Christian asked when Adrian and I walked out of the meeting hall. He took my hand and squeezed it, as if reassuring me of the good and mad news that I carried on my shoulders.

Mia, Eddie and Christian were waiting outside the doors. Mia and Eddie seemed to have grown pretty close over the last couple of months. It was nice to see a constantly happy Mia, rather than the rude one back in school. As for Eddie, he seemed very protective of Mia, as if she were the princess running for the Queen's seat on the thrown.

I sighed. "Well, about as we expected. Of course they put up a bit of a fight, but Tatiana showed up to save the day."

"Much to anyone's surprise," Christian grumbled from beside me. "She used to hate Rose, and now she's supporting the both of you out of the blue." He shook his head.

I nudged him. "Knock it off. She's changed since announcing her sickness to the public. She is still responsible for our entire race, and really does want to help, Christian."

He only shrugged, his icy-blue eyes still a bit skeptical.

"I don't think the council will just give you the thrown, not without a fight," Mia pointed out.

Adrian, I noticed, was very quiet – unusually quiet as we made our way down the halls. "Adrian, is there something you're not telling us?" I asked, making all eye turn to him.

As we walked, Eddie and Mia took up the rear, his eyes everywhere all at once, all the while able to walk and talk at the same time. If that wasn't multi-tasking, then I don't know what is. Christian, Adrian and I were walked beside each other, with me in the middle, Adrian on my left and Christian on my right.

He glanced over everyone, and then gave a lazy sigh. "Well, I guess there's no point in hiding it from you all. I actually know a few things; one to help Lissa's vote at the election, and the other Rose's whereabouts."

My eyes widened at the mention of where Rose might be. "You know where she is, and you didn't bother to tell me?"

He shook his head. "If you knew, you're more than likely to spill the beans – not that I'm saying you give it away, but you know how Court likes to play mind tricks on you to get you to give up information."

I sighed. He had a point. Just then the doors to the library – I hadn't even realized we had made it that far – opened, revealing Mason Ashford.

Adrian immediately clamped his mouth shut (I'll have to say that's the first time that's happened) and narrowed his eyes at Mason. "What's he doing here?" He inclined his head toward said Guardian.

"He's asked to help find Rose," Mia explained, keeping her voice down low so Mason couldn't hear. Then she looked a little ashamed. "He…managed to get our plan out of me – I don't know how he did it! He might as well have compelled me."

"And that's why Adrian didn't tell you where Rose it, Lissa," Eddie said, smirking. Although it earned him a smack on the arm from Mia.

Mason, clad in his Guardian uniform, even off duty, stood next to me. He didn't say anything and just nodded as a greeting, his face unreadable. I smiled in return. I know it was a long shot letting him in on our secret, but I figured another friend in the mix wouldn't hurt anything.

"Can we just get back to what we were talking about?" Christian asked, obviously annoyed that this is taking so long. I'm surprised he stuck around, considering he was supposed to meet up with his Aunt, Natasha Ozera, for lunch.

"Sure thing, Hot-Head," Adrian said, looking just as impatient, but clearly entertained enough to crack jokes. "AS I was saying, there's another piece of information that could get Lissa the seat on the thrown." His eyes connected with mine, searching for something. "I know this is going to be hard for you to hear, but my Aunt knows it to be true, and she wants us to seek her out."

My brows pressed in confusion. "Seek out who?"

He searched my face for something for another second – I realized then he was reading my aura – and sighed again. "To seek out your younger sister."

The room fell silent, all eyes on me. "But, that doesn't make any sense, I don't have-"

"She's your half-sister, only a couple years younger than you. In the elections, there needs to be at least one other member of the Dragomir family to stand up for you. She will almost guarantee you a shot for the thrown. My Aunt knows all about it, but for now won't give up any information. Apparently…your father had a secret mistress."

"'Almost guarantee'?" Christian cut in. "I thought this was going to help her, not almost help her."

"It will make her eligible, seeing as though she has no direct relative at the moment, but nothing guarantees the council's vote. They already don't like that she's the youngest member to take the thrown in a long time. But her family line was highly honored, and this sister will be the key to making or breaking this."

"And the Queen asked you to tell us to find her?" Eddie asked, as skeptical as everyone else.

Adrian nodded, pulling out a cigarette from his pack. Mia gasped. "You can't smoke in here! This is a library, Adrian!" she scolded.

He considered it for a second, taking into account that there are several books open nearby, as well as smoke alarms overhead. He replaced them back into his pant pocket. "Then this needs to speed up a little."

Frustrated that no one seemed to care what effect this was having on me, I said, "My father would never do something like that. My father was a good man; he would never go behind our back, cheat on my mother… He wasn't that kind of person." I felt a tear slip from my eye, letting the entire bundle weld up emotions held in since Rose's departure spill out. "He was respected and looked up to by so many people, especially me! He wouldn't betray those who looked up to him in some kind of one night stand – never! I'm not going to run for the thrown if bringing a disgraced image to my family name is the only way."

"Liss, relax," Christian grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "No one really knows anything about this yet, but once we investigate we'll know more."

Eddie nodded; sympathy emanating from his soft eyes. "No one is calling out on you dad, because, like you said, we was too highly respected to do such a thing." He smiled gently. "Besides, I don't think you'd risk not running for Queen, not when your real sister's life and safety is on the line."

My eyes widened. Rose. How could I be so stupid. This wasn't just about my family, or the council, or even our race; I was doing this to keep rose and Dimitri safe, because they both bought for so long to keep me safe. Now it's my turn.

I whipped my eyes, getting rid of any sign that I was crying. I nodded, feeling stronger than ever. "Alright."

Mia put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay with this, Lissa?" At one point she was like an enemy, trying to make my life miserable because I was getting attention that I didn't even want. She may be a Moroi, but her family wasn't royal, and it used to burn her to the core. Now she's seeing a whole new side of things after the tragedy that happened to her family, leaving her in the care of just her father. She was the perfect inspiration for this.

I smiled. "I'm more than ready. Not only do we need to do this for Rose, but now there's something about my family that I don't know about. And not knowing just doesn't settle right with me." I nodded to Adrian, who smiled. "And we're going to find this sister of mine."

**End of somewhat short yet somehow long chapter. I say that because it's short in length but took me several attempts to get it right. Sigh… My back actually hurts from sitting at my computer for several days, hell-bent on getting this done for you. Aside from that fact, I hope you liked. **

**I don't know how close to the book the rest of the story will fall, but because Tatiana is alive to talk about Jill and where she's at, I don't think I'll include Mikhail Tanner and Sonya Karp very much. Maybe mention them a couple times, but not so much include them. If I do, that's about three books I need to squeeze into the story, and I don't think I have the imagination for that kind of thing. So, for now, roll with what I give ya, because odds are, it's the best that I got, lol.**

**Anyway, you guys know the drill.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	9. Chapter 9

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Let me just say now that I never thought this story was going to go this far, let alone be so popular. I didn't think I had this many ideas for this story. Each chapter is literally something thought up on the spot. Thank you all so much for review to help me with ideas and letting me know what this story needed. **

**So, keep up all the ideas and good work!**

**Here's the next chapter:**

**Rose's POV**

It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that several more days have passed by. So far, Dimitri has avoided hand to hand combat – he claims it's because he wants to see my stamina and resistance to pushing my body to its limits. I think it's because he's preparing his own body for me, for when I'm too strong for him to hold. As far as everything else is considered, this could be the unavoidable calm before a storm.

As it so happens, I'm not all invincible as we thought I was. My limit is 500 laps around the small patch of trees outside town. Dimitri estimated it to be about as long as lapping the track around a football field 250 times, meaning I can run more than twice what I normally could. I really do sweat and my muscles cramp up to let me know it's too much and I need to give it a rest. Apparently my body can handle an all-day work out – for me anyway, because I'd always make Dimitri take a break from training with me and run more laps myself. Despite all of the training I've been doing, nothing seems to change, I don't build a lot of muscle, considering my body is doing twice the work it would normally need to do. And I'm not losing weight much. It's weird…but at the same time it makes sense. I'm not a Dhampir anymore, and it takes a reminder from my super hearing for that to get through my head.

Sydney has taken over roll as "mother hen". She's always bugging me to watch what I do and make sure I'm listening and looking out for danger. I'm almost surprised she doesn't want to tuck me into bed every night and sing me a lullaby she came up with at the top of her head.

Right now, it was just me and Sydney on our way through town – Dimitri had gone ahead to check out for possible Guardians or Strigoi. My ever-paranoid man.

Of course I had my glasses and jacket on for our short walk, trying to block as much sun light as possible. I don't think anyone in this part of town really noticed that we've been walking to the same place every day, but we try to make two trips, once in the morning, and again late at night when everyone is off the streets. Using Sydney's car was a risk, so she only used it when we needed food and had to go in search of a grocery store.

"Hey, Syd." She glanced at me, letting me know I had her attention. We rounded another corner, nearly at our destination. "Where are we going after this?"

She sighed then shrugged. "I don't know – I won't know till Abe takes care of everything at Court."

My eyes widened, worry shooting through me like a bullet. "What's going on at Court? Is everything okay? Is Lissa okay?"

Sydney chuckled at me ranting, though I frowned deeper when she hesitated answering. "Nothing's wrong, per say."

"What does that mean exactly?"

She sighed again, clearly torn between telling me and leaving me in the dark. Rose Hathaway does not like to be left in the dark; this should be apparent by now.

"Sydney Sage, so help me, you will not leave me out of your secret plans again." It wasn't supposed to sound like a threat, but, you know, shit happens.

"Okay, okay! Well, according to Abe, your people's Queen, Tatiana, gave her nephew some rather interesting information, and your friends are acting on it rather…quickly."

"What was it about?"

"It's really hard for me to believe it myself, seeing as though Lissa's father – form what I heard and read – was a greatly respected man. Not only in their family line but also to the council as well." When I kept quiet, she took that as a chance to continue before I could jump in with a comment. "I guess Lissa's has some kind of step sister out there in the world. I don't know anything more than the fact that they are trying to find out who this girl is and where she's hiding."

"But why would they-" Before I could finish my own question, I understood. "To make Lissa eligible for the thrown."

She nodded. "That's how I understand it."

We finally made it to the building, looking up at its tall creepiness. "Okay, but don't tell Dimitri," she said, looking me in the eye to tell me she was serious.

I nodded. I didn't want him worrying about Lissa, even though he was technically her Guardian. She was like a sister to me, and I'll be damned if I'm going to make him worry over me and her at the same time.

We walked to the back of the building and I let Sydney go in first. I stood in the doorway for a second, focusing my hearing to expand and listen for any signs of threats. All I really heard was the sound of cars and people walking by. Turns out the small town Ann Arbor of Michigan was a place where you could walk to almost anywhere in town; it was actually pretty nice, because that was less engines and cars of Diesel trucks interfering with my "signal".

Satisfied that there wasn't anything suspicious, I shut the door behind me as I followed Sydney inside.

Before I could even say one word, Dimitri looked at us both brow raised. "What's this about keeping Lissa's search for her possible sister a secret?"

I froze, we both did. Either he has super powerful hearing too, or…well I don't know!

"How did you hear that?" I asked, still trying to run options through my head.

He made a point to look at the damn black, leather watch attached to my wrist, and then point to the small chip he had in his ear.

I groaned. I had completely forgotten about that thing. No wonder I couldn't think of another way he could hear us.

Sydney got over her shot pretty quickly. "I didn't want you to know because I want you focused on what we are doing here, rather than what's going on at Court."

A playful smirk edged onto his lips. "But you'd rather tell Rose? Even though she's the one and only person on this earth that would worry over everything that had to do with Lissa?"

Sydney actually looked… Well, she obviously hadn't thought about that.

Wait a minute…

"Hey!" I put my hands on my hips. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His gaze turned to me, the damn smirk still very much in place. "Oh, nothing, Rose. Just that you tend to worry about Lissa more than is necessary."

"'More than is necessary'?" I mimicked, almost sounding like a parrot. "What ever happen to 'they come first'? It's our golden rule."

"Yes, that is true, but that doesn't mean when it is not our place to worry that we should anyway."

I sighed. "It was supposed to be my place to worry…" I muttered under my breath. The room fell silent, all hints of joking around gone – vanish into this thin atmosphere I created. When I started again, it was with more volume. "Before…before I became what I am. I was supposed to carry out my duties as Guardian at Lissa's side and protect her no matter what the cost. We already know risking my life wasn't a problem, seeing as though I've put myself in harm's way – or rather, harm seems to follow me around where ever I go."

No one said anything. They probably didn't know what to say. From the moment I met Lissa, I wanted to be her true Guardian, the one that would their body into the path of any danger. Since we started school at St. Vlad's, I honestly thought that life, long dream was going to come true. Sadly, I was wrong.

"Um…" Sydney's timid interruption broke the dead silence. "Why don't I give Abe another call and see if they found out anything. I'm almost positive he assigned himself to that case and is fully aware of what they're doing."

I nodded, and actually smiled at the suggestion. It wasn't just a way to break the silence – she was trying to make me feel better. "Thanks, Sydney."

She smiled back and nodded. "Any time, Rose." With that, she was gone, probably deciding to make the call back at the hotel.

Dimitri was standing at one of the boarded windows, and was now making his way over to me. "You know, I always loved that protective side of you." I turned more to him, our bodies completely mirroring each other. He was wearing loose gym shorts that were riding dangerously low, and a slightly tight tank top, showing off his bare arm muscles. "I know you want to protect her, but right now you need to focus on protecting yourself, and right now I'm going to help you with that."

Without so much as a warning, and clearly taking advantage of the distraction he was causing, he gripped my wrist and literally flipped my over his shoulder, letting my body glide through the air and hit the work-out mat with a loud thud.

I gasped, trying to recover from the wind being knocked out of me. It felt like a flashback from the plane jump we experienced.

I groaned. "What…the hell was that for?" I yelled between gasps.

He smiled down at me, seeming so innocent. God, I wanted to smack that smile right off of his face. Too bad his face was too pretty to damage. "You are going to learn how to defend yourself, Roza."

I turned over on my stomach and nearly jumped to my feet. It was almost creepy how quickly my body healed now, it was like I had spirit implanted into me and it does all my healing and recovery. "You mean, we're actually sparing today?"

He nodded once. "Yup."

I pumped my fist in the air! "Thank God! I haven't done any real fighting since Victor attacked Lissa." I started doing pre-stretches, not wanting to waste any time. "I thought I'd never throw a punch again! That's how deprived I felt."

He chuckled his time, and actually bowed slightly at the waist, sweeping his arm to the side. "It would be my honor to spar with an amazing woman such as yourself, Roza." He then started his own stretches next to me.

Okay, that got me to smile. He knows how to annoy me and keep me on my toes. But he also knows how to be sweet, and how to push my buttons to make heat rise in my cheeks.

We took our time warming up, doing our usual push-ups and sit ups before practicing. We decided to skip running for now and use that was a cool down run instead. We didn't talk the whole time, not needing words to communicate. It was like we had some kind of freaking mental connection, like we knew each other's movements enough to know what our next ones will me. Whatever it was, I wasn't complaining. I liked how in sync we are to each other.

By time we were finished, my adrenaline was already starting to pump through me from anticipation. I was so looking forward to facing-off with Dimitri again. The thrill of knowing what you're doing is almost…intoxicating.

Suddenly, all of my senses froze up. I felt my eyes widen and my body tense. My entire being was paralyze. That word… That was the word I thought of to describe Dimitri's blood. That was the though I used to describe the heat of battle. Why? Why was everything…intoxicating to me? What is it about all of my senses that makes me want to be somebody else? When did it all just go away; how much longer was I going to have to wait to feel normal again? Who would to live in a life of killing, when I could be the savior? Where was the justice in turning innocent people into freaks like me?

It was like several doors of knowledge were opened up to me in those few questions. All of the information that I needed to get myself through this hell was there – it was already inside me! All I had to do was learn how to access it.

Then, another thought hit me: Why was I the one to be turned into a freak – is this my destined path pre chosen for me? No. I wasn't going to let something like that control who I was, not when so much is on the line.

"Roza? Roza!"

Dimitri's voice brought me back from my train of thought. I blinked a couple of times – when did my body un-tense?

"Hey. Are you okay?" He looked a little relived that I wasn't about to spring on him like I did that other night. "You looked like you were somewhere else."

I nodded, shaking any earlier thoughts away. "Yeah… Just realized that this will be the start of me new future. You know, the where I pack up every other day and keep hidden from the people I once called my equals, my allies, and my friends?"

He nodded, already understanding what I meant. "It will be hard, Roza, but you have to know that you will never be alone."

I looked deep into his dark brown eyes, seeing all that I needed to see there. I nodded too. "You're right. Thanks."

**End Chapter. Surprisingly wasn't much of a cliff hanger, considering that's how I normally leave you guys hanging. **

**There wasn't anything too special about it. It was really just another filler chapter. The next one should be Rose and Dimitri actually training and testing her strength, as well as tactics to get around hurting people she doesn't want to hurt. There might be some more fluff, but there **_**will**_** be action. Rose will, however, realize she can never use her strength to its fullest potential, and that she will have to keep guard over that strength for as long as she lives. It's actually pretty melodramatic, if you think about it. **

**Anyway, I liked this chapter – for a filler chapter, anyway. There was a lot of discovery and wondering on Rose's part, but all in all, good. Abe may make another appearance soon, as well the other main characters. **

**I don't know if anyone else noticed, but there are specific lines from the book playing out in the story. A few are from Lissa, and there are some from Rose and Dimitri. Because I recently reread the whole series, it was almost hard **_**not**_** to put them in here, considering we are jumping around from book to book – not to mention some were unintentional. Most of this will be – an already is – taking place somewhere between Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice, I believe (if those two are the last books, correct me if I'm wrong). I thought it was a pretty clever way to spice up the story, seeing as though I'm no longer quoting the book word for word.**

**As stories end, so must this Author's Note…**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	10. Chapter 10

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Sorry about the delayed update. I was pulled away for several different birthday parties jammed into one week. That, and I went on a mini cruise for a birthday celebration for my grandmother. I know I have all kinds of excuses for not updating, but if I didn't have all of those destrations and more, I'd be on this computer writing. Trust me, it's a toss up between the two dedications I have: social life and writers life. Sigh.**

**Anyway, here's the long awaited chapter:**

**Rose's POV**

Right jag and a left hook – dodged.

Round house kick – dodge.

Low leg swipe – barely dodged it.

Left hook, and a right jab. _Keep dodging_, I told myself.

Another round house kick and—

"Ah!" I cried as my ass hit the mat. I may be stronger and faster, but everything that hits me I feel like I'm human.

Dimitri and I have been training all day, and the sun was starting to set. This was far from being over, but I could see Dimitri was physically tired and in meet of refreshments other than a bottle of now empty water. All the while I was barely fatigued. Being inhuman has its perks, too.

"Come on, Rose!" Dimitri cried, coming at me with his fist cocked behind him.

Thinking on my feet – or rather on my ass – I used my new-found speed and jumped pack up. I snatched his fist before he could throw is punch and pinned his arm behind his back. He grunted, but didn't miss a beat. He used his other arm and forced his elbow into my stomach. That didn't feel too great, but I knew better than to let up on my grip. One real slip up will give him the opening he needs and he'd have me down for the count.

Regaining my composure, I snagged his other arm and pinned that one too. Even though his hands were by far bigger than mine, my hand strength countered his. With one hand I held his securely to his back and wrapped my other arm around his neck. It wasn't tight enough to chock him, but he wasn't going anywhere.

Dimitri and I agreed that there was no point in holding back on each other. I knew my limitations so I wouldn't hurt him, and he knew better than to hold back on me. So, neither of us planned on giving in very easily. We also agreed to act as if this was a real fight – to act as if I was really going up against my friends, the Guardians at Court and around the world. His job was to continue attacking until I "knocked him out" – I wasn't going to actually do that, but make it look and feel convincing. My job was to talk down my opponent and try not to show off what I can do. That wasn't too hard. What killed me was the fact that it was Dimitri, and I didn't want him in any part of this.

"I'm not your enemy!" I all but yelled in Dimitri's ear. "I've done nothing to harm anyone; all I want is my freedom." For me, this part wasn't just acting I was voicing the thoughts running through my mind for the past couple of weeks.

Dimitri – even if this situation way really happening – knew it was pointless to struggle, but his craned his head to look at me, eyes holding fake anger and frustration. "You are a threat to the Queen; you must be dealt with."

I figured now was a now or never moment to test my limits on speed and control.

I growled low in my throat and pushed him away from me. He snapped around and poised his body in defense formation. After a few seconds of just staring and analyzing each other's movements, I made my move. With a battle cry fueled by pent up energy and anger, I ran at him, making his whole body tense. Expect, I didn't run right at him. Instead, I took a quick side step around him and "flashed" – decided I should give it some kind of name that describes my speed – behind him, making him halt and look a little dazed. He hasn't expecting me to be so fast, but I clearly had him on the ropes with that move. Catching him by surprise, and before he could turn around, I shoved him forward, back onto the workout mat. He stumbled and turned to face me, but I flashed again, this time right up in his face. My face was blank and cold, but I knew I was going to have to play hard ball. If I was in a real battle, I'm pretty sure this is what it would feel like if I was desperate to make a finishing move to end it all. So, why not practice that now?

I quickly gripped the front of his damp, sweaty shirt and pushed again, expect this time I knocked his legs out from underneath him and we both went flying toward the mat. His back hit it with an audible thud as our combined weight met the mat. His breath left him with an audible "oof". Instead of actually knocking each other out, I figured it was better to just announce "K.O." once the other person was pinned. He did point out though that I would eventually have to learn how hard – or, light, I should say – I'd have to hit in order to not accidently kill my opponent.

"K.O." I announced, leaning over him with my arm pressed lightly against his throat. I smirked down at him. "You know, being pinned is definitely not a good look for you."

He was panting from our tussle, but still managed a come-back. "Ah, Roza, but it is when you're involved," he countered with his own smirk, which grew wider when my smile dropped and face flushed. I don't think he had ever…flirted with me before. A first, the thought of us in a romantic relationship was sickening to him, and now he was the one making the moves. Damn.

My face was lighting up like a Christmas tree because I realized how I was laying on him. I was straddling his waist, but my knees slid back so my lower half was pressed against him. Not to mention the fact that the right strap to my tank top had slid down my shoulder while we were wrestling and my face was only centimeters from his. His hands somehow managed to scurry up to my hips, almost like he was holding me there.

Talk about close encounters.

"So...are you hungry?" I asked, being a smart ass by pretending I didn't know how we were laying; trust me, I did.

He laughed one of his rare, full laughs, making his chest rumble. "Yes, Roza, as a matter of fact, I am. Why don't we see if Sydney managed to get some food for us?"

I think I waited a little too long when peeling my body from his as we picked ourselves off the ground; and worse than that, I think he noticed. I stood to my full – yet not so tall – height, while he was still trying to catch his breath on the ground. It was quite ironic, really. Normally, he was the one who would be standing with me on my back recovering from a tiring work out. But today, I was the one offering my hand to help him up from the ground.

His lips twitched up into a small smile and took my hand, only releasing it when he was sure he was balanced and standing almost a full foot – or more, but I'd never taking too close of a comparison between our heights to be sure – taller than me. Wordlessly, we packed up the mats and work our gear and closed up our new training grounds. It was almost weird practicing and training there in that abandoned building, but it was safe and secure place – for now.

We walked back to our hotel; Dimitri was still cooling down from our work out, but I was watching the road ahead, keeping my senses on alert. The sun nor its rays were nowhere in sight, making the cool air even that much more inviting. I sighed happily when a breeze blew my hair back, brushing against my bear arms and my clothes.

"What are you thinking about?" Dimitri asked out of the blue.

I turned to him only to say, "Nothing," in a very non-believable way and looked away again.

He took the bait. "There is something. Your voice gives everything away, Roza."

"Well, Comrade, you will have to beat it out of me." I smirked but never turned to look at him.

"I think you've gotten enough of a beating today."

This time I did turn to him, glaring. He was sporting a bright playful smile, almost making me smile through my glare. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm saying you've been beaten enough today. There's no need for more tonight; unless you're asking for another задницу ногами tonight." That playful smirk turned into an expression of dead challenge, making my own lips turn up into a similar one.

I had a snarky retort, but it fell from my lips when I realized he mixed his native language into that sentence. "Wait a second: 'another…what'?" I asked, confused now.

This time he laughed. "As I've told you before, my Roza, I will never give away the Russian profanities you seek. You swear enough in one language as it is."

I cocked a smirk. "So, it is a swear word, then?"

He nodded, but didn't give away any hints is to what it was. Oh, well. There are ways of getting it out of him. Then, I remembered what we were talking about just a few minutes ago. "So, do you really want to know what I'm thinking about?"

He nodded. "Of course." All signs of joking dropping from his expressions. That was one thing I loved and hated about him; he could go from the hot Russian God to that tough-guy, kick-ass Guardian in less than a second.

I looked back at the road ahead of us, seeing the hotel come into view. "I was thinking about my life after all of this blows over; whatever kind of life I can make out of a wanted fugitive, anyway." He looked like he wanted to interrupt and reassure me that I had done nothing wrong, but I stopped him with a wave of my hand. "I don't care what they think of me, or what the world thinks I will do. All I want is Lissa's guaranteed safety. I know I can never go back to that chance at being her Guardian myself. The only two I trust at her side are you and Eddie. If I know she's safe than I'll keep myself safe, if only to know her existence is absolute, that she'll make a life for herself with or without me there." I sighed, having said all of that in one hurried breathe. "And there's only one way that will happen."

"I won't leave you alone, Rose," he said immediately, barely letting me finish my sentence. He face was serious, but his eyes gave away concern and love.

"What else would you rather have me do, Dimitri?" I yelled back, the both of us stopping not far from the hotel front doors. "I can't go back here, let alone in that same general direction. If I'm to ever live a life without worry than I need you there with the others, keeping my mind at ease."

"I can do that here with you, too," he countered.

"How do you plan on doing that? Stepping in the path of a fellow Guardian in order to put your life at risk to I'll have to worry about saving you all over again? I don't think so."

He shook his head. "That won't happen, Rose. If we stick to Sydney and Abe's strategies, then we will avoid those problems together. Lissa will take the thrown and she will end the search for you – for us."

"Didn't I just say I wasn't going to put you in the line of fire?" I asked, getting annoyed pretty quickly.

"I need to be here to make sure all of that happens."

I groaned, seriously frustrated. "No, you can't. Don't you see? I can never be happy with you here!"

The words slipped out before I could stop them. They weren't true – I was just speaking before thinking! But, judging my Dimitri's hurt expression, that didn't matter.

My mouth opened and closed several times, but no words would come out; the guilt already starting to ride over me.

"Dimitri… I'm sorry." I was still at a loss of what to say, but he was already starting for the door before I could say much else. "Wait!" I caught his arm, but he ripped it out of my grip.

Before I could process what was happening, he used his own form of "flash" and snapped us around so my back was to the brick building. I'm not sure if he meant to push me so hard, but my head connected with the wall and I had a sudden flash of what happened what Natalie attacked me.

"Listen to me, Rose, because I don't know how many more times I can say this before you finally understand." His voice was rough, and I knew he was hurting as much as me. "I didn't sign up for this because I thought it would score me a sport next to the future Queen as he head Guardian. I didn't do this for Lissa, for Queen Tatiana or anyone else. I risked my life for you!" his grip on my shoulders tightened, but I could barely feel it, just like the impact with the wall. My body was too numbed by his words and feelings to feel anything. "Why don't you see that this is bigger than Lissa and keeping her safe because your safety is involved, too? What if you died, Rose? Where would that leave everyone else?"

I had never put my mother – let alone my new-found father – into the equation of my life. Suddenly putting them in a situation of who I'm leaving behind if I die was throwing my for a major loop.

"Janine and Abe will have no daughter and they will live out the rest of their lives hunting me down because I couldn't keep you safe like I promised. What about Eddie or Mason? They have known you much longer than me and will be the ones to make my life hell when they find I couldn't save you!" With every sentence, his voice grew slightly louder and more frustrated. "What about Lissa, Rose? What would she do to me if she knew that I couldn't protect you and keep you alive like I swore to do?" I could have sworn I heard his voice waver like he was going to cry, but I dismissed it.

"What about me, Rose?" His voice was softer and almost inaudible. He was clearly hurting and wasn't sure how to deal with it. Welcome to my world. "What happens when I watch you throw your life away because I couldn't stop you? You're being irrational because you're worried about Lissa, but you're not taking your own well-being into consideration here. If I'm to ever be at peace…" He reached up and brushed a stay lock of hair from my face, rolling it between his fingers before dropping it back behind my ear. "I need you to be okay."

Sadly, the only thing I could think to say in that situation was the very thing he was trying to get me to leave be: "They come first."

Whatever gentleness was in his eyes vanished with those three words. He released me shoulders and back away from me, his entire being slumping in an almost unnoticeable way. "Then consider yourself royalty and me your Guardian, Rosemary, because there's no escaping the truth." He stepped toward the door again. Halfway through the entrance to the hotel, he stopped, only turning his gaze to me. "If you die, I'm facing death with you. Because whether you like it or not, we're in this together."

And then, he was gone.

**I know, sucky ending. But there will be more story to come, don't worry about that.**

**So, if anyone actually reads the summary I put at the beginning of each chapter, you will see the following: "Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity." This is where that part of the story kicks in. He's not mad at her because she's being stubborn and asking him to leave every chance she gets, but rather because she's denying she needs his help and intentionally risking her life when it could just as easily be saved. It's extremely frustrating to him and he can't yet get his head wrapped around the idea of Rose truly not needing his help to survive against Strigoi and Guardians alike.**

**In the next couple of chapters you will see the student surpassing the teacher by a long shot. Not in strength of technique, but in understanding and sheer will of survival. **

**And, yes, they will make up eventually – very possibly in the next chapter, as a matter of fact. So don't panic. **

**Anyway, I hope you liked it, and that the training scene was ll that I hoped it was cracked up to be.**

**Thanks for Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	11. Chapter 11

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Okay. This one is another filler chapter. Basically Dimitri and Rose getting over the fight they had, but he might finally understand where Rose is coming from in their argument. That, and Sydney gains more authority over them, being the brains of this operation.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Dimitri's POV**

I don't know what it was about Rose the other night, but any sign of our argument two nights ago vanished. I don't know if she pushed the memory away in the back of her mind or if she was denying that too, but she never reacted to it after that.

We continued our training without conflict, and she and Sydney continue to try to find ways around going out every night and morning for food. We already told the clerk at the front desk that we were on a business loop and just staying as long as "the company" needed us to. That was holding as our cover so far, but how long it would last before he and others started asking questions was a mystery still. I knew Rose and Sydney were getting antsy staying in one place for so long, but I was at a loss is to what to do next, too.

It was another night for rose to get some sleep while Sydney and I stayed up. Rose chose now to show, and as soon as the water was heard running from the shower head, Sydney said in a very commanding voice, "You are going to sleep too, Dimitri."

I was reaching in the not-so-mini fridge for a water bottle I had saved earlier that day. The hotel offered to bump us up to a room with two beds due to our continued stay and we gladly took it as the chance to have at least one more bed and more room to move.

"Oh, really?" I raised a brow, making my way back to where I was sitting when Rose entered the bathroom, listening to what this Alchemist had to say next.

She nodded. "Yes." She was not in any way phased by my intimidating stare. It seems she's built up some kind of immunity to it due to the fact that she's spent so much time with Rose and me. "I have one of those feelings that we've spent too much time here and someone's onto us again. If something happens tomorrow I can't have you fatigued because you refused to sleep and get rest. I'm used to your God-forsaken sleeping schedule and I think I can handle pulling an all-nighter for one night, but there's no way in hell I will be much use to you or Rose in a fight. So, you will be sleeping tonight and I will fly solo keeping watch."

There really wasn't much room for argument, but she knew I wanted to say something, so she continued. "Abe updated me on the other's pursuit of this long-lost sister-princess." When I shut my mouth and bit back my argument, she continued. "He said they knew who it is, but because Lissa much stay back at Court for their stupid and pointless 'royal games' to determine who will rule your race, they are sending Janine, Mia and Mikhail to get the girl and take her to Court." I rolled my eyes at her description of our way of determining a leader for the Vampire world, but didn't say anything. "That leaves this Mason kid, Abe, Adrian, and Lissa's boyfriend to help the princess through her own turmoil. I guess it's getting pretty heated between the Court Advisers whether to let Lissa compete for the thrown at all." She shook her head in dismay. "I really don't see why it's such a big deal, why her needing a relative to have a shot at the thrown is so important in the first place."

I sighed, but twitched a half smile as I watched her face when she tried to understand and process her own words. "Neither do I, Sydney. Neither do I."

"So, is Rose still hung up on that argument you two had the other night?"

I froze where I stood, not sure whether to be shocked or worried at this point in time. Her mentioning the "incident" was a shock to me, seeing as though I never mentioned it, and was sure Rose didn't say anything about it. Sydney guessed what I was saying and explained. "I went to the car for the lap top charger and was about to walk in behind you when you two made it to the door. I didn't want to interrupt and get in the middle of such critical argument between you two, so I stayed behind and was stuck eavesdropping by the car until you both left to go inside."

My eye brows knitted together. "What do you mean when you say 'critical argument' between Rose and me?" I asked, finally sitting the bed now designated for me to sleep on tonight, sitting opposite from her in the chair nearby. "That discussion wasn't something to be other heard, yes, but it wasn't something that I want to repeat again. Calling it a 'critical' event isn't the word I'd use to describe that situation."

She nodded. "True, but you two needed to vent your feelings sometime, right? I mean, keeping it all bottled up is never a good way to cope with problems. But if you and Rose are going to work together keeping each other and Lissa safe, you both need to know the extent of each other's… intentions when it comes to the meaning of the word 'safe'."

Damn. She had me there, too. If rose and I were going to get our way in safety for those we loved, then this situation needed to be approached in a different way.

The next few minutes went uneventfully. Rose immerged from her shower, hair still rather wet. As I watched her movements carefully from the doorway to her bed, she teased me about staring – which I was _not_ doing. Once settled in bed, Sydney closed the curtains hanging around the windows and turned off the lights, the light source coming from her phone.

Abruptly, Rose sat up in bed. "Are you calling Abe?" she asked eagerly. I watched her facial expressions from where I lay in bed. She wasn't excited, but more anxious to talk to her father.

Sydney, startled a little from Rose's sudden movement, nodded. "Yeah. Was going to call and ask for an update on finally changing locations. Why?"

Rose threw the covers back and practically ran to Sydney across the room. They talked in a low whisper for a few minutes, and then I heard footsteps and the door to our room open then close. But not before hearing Rose say, "Old man? It's Rose. I need to talk to you."

Confused, and wondering why a phone call had to be made this late at night, I sat up in bed, my eyes training on the door. "Where's she going?"

Sydney shrugged. "She said she wanted to talk to Abe personally; something about wanting to hear it from him how Lissa and the votes were going. She took it before he picked up on the other end of the line."

I sighed. "Maybe that will put her mind at ease." That was kind of a low blow, seeing as though she wanted me to completely abandon her to protect Lissa in order for her mind to be at ease. But what about my mind? It's been reeling ever since I found her dead on the floor those short months ago.

Hadn't she taken into consideration what others are thinking of our situation? Of course not. Rose thinks and believes what she wants, and when she believes in something, she stands strong and pushes any other ideas out of the way. No matter whom those ideas are coming from, and what they mean to that person.

It was several more minutes until Rose came back, and wordlessly handed the phone to Sydney. She an expressionless face, but it was clear something was up.

Rose sat back down in bed, pulling the comforter over her legs.

"So, how's Lissa?" Sydney asked, completely ignoring the tension orbiting around the room.

Rose turned her attention to our Alchemist friend, smiling lightly. "She's fine of course. Abe said they just need the missing piece to show up and Lissa will be eligible for the vote." She looked down at her hands in her lap. "I think I'm just getting anxious, sitting here in the same city for as long as we have. I hate the thought of waiting for danger to come to me. I guess I'm the seek-danger-ask-questions-later kind of person." She shook her head, chuckling. "Sorry. I'm tired. There wasn't really a speech needed, but I guess it the anxiety there too."

Assuming Rose doesn't know that Sydney overheard the conversation the other night, I'm guessing this was some kind of apology to me for bursting out like she did. Smart girl. Hide your current feelings, but show you care.

She never made eye contact with either Sydney or I, and that's when I realized that she was gazing at Lissa's bracelet. It was a birthday gift from Lissa to Rose. The meaning behind the bracelet was something only they could share and cherish, and I knew that's what got Rose's thinking under control.

I smiled at her through the dark, not caring that she couldn't exactly see me at this point. She was back to her normal self, and that's all that mattered. "It's okay, Roza. Everyone's worried. You just have your own way of doing it."

She looked up and smiled at me for what felt like the first time in a long time. She was finally relaxed, so I guess that meant I could relax, too. At least for the night so that I get a good night sleep and prepare my body for whatever surprise awaits tomorrow.

As I lay in bed and let Sydney's computer clicking lull me to sleep, I kept thinking that maybe Rose has changed; not just in a physical way, but in a mental one as well. She has grown smarter and seems to have a stronger grasp on the concept of levels of protection: your own safety is important, too.

**Okay, so I didn't expect this one to be so short, but then next one will be better. Promise. But like I said it was just a filler chapter. Don't hate me!**

**The next one will have more action, and I hope it turns out like I intended it to: good. Lol **

**You know the drill.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	12. Chapter 12

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Okay, so in this chapter, Strigoi are going to approach Rose for the first time. If you haven't read the summary by now, I might be a little disappointed, seeing as though I put it up eleven times – twelve times now – and you haven't noticed it. It says: "…Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi." Keep up people.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter, as promised:**

**Rose's POV**

Sleep doesn't come naturally to me anymore. Normally if my body was as exhausted as it was right now, I'd be out the second my head hit the pillow. But now it seems I have to actually search for a connection to the sleepiness that awaits me. Which reminded me of me and Lissa's new connection – or rather _dis_connection.

I think I got a couple hours of sleep – maybe only four – but when my sensitive hearing picked up on a knock at the door to our suite, I was alert and fully charged. And ready to kick some ass.

Sydney was out of her chair, but she didn't make a move for the door, the small lamp on the table illuminated the room, showing me the shadows on her questioning face. Soundlessly getting out of bed, I put a finger to my lips to signal her to stay quiet then pointed to Dimitri, who was surprising still sleeping.

She nodded and started packing up her gear, which was really only the lap top. She grabbed her coat, careful not to jingle the car keys in her pocket. I got half way across the room then froze. I…smelled something. Something I haven't come across yet, and trust me, the air carries every scent imaginable when you travel a little. No, this something was stale and almost smelled…dead.

I panicked a bit and flashed next to Dimitri's bed. Thankfully Sydney's back was turned and I didn't startle her. I barely placed my hand on Dimitri's shoulder and he was awake, sitting straight up in bed and looking around for danger.

Cue another knock at the door.

I motioned the same keep-your-mouth-shut gesture to him as I did to Sydney and pointed to the door. I wasn't going to say what I knew was on the other side of that door, but if I signaled danger, I knew he'd believe me.

He got out of bed as silently as I had, grabbing the only two things he needed: his belt that held his gun and stake, and his duster. Raids, bullets, criminals…no problem. A missing duster? Crisis.

As we approached the window, and opened it as quietly as we could, it was then that we realized we were on the fourth floor and about to jump out a window. Clearly, that plan was not thought out too well.

The knocks on the door were suddenly much harsher and more urgent. If that wasn't motivation for thinking of something stupid, then I don't know what is.

Before she could protest, I wrapped my arm around Sydney and pulled her right up to my left side, keeping barely any comfortable distance between us. She looked at me like I was crazy, but I wasn't sure if it was because of our close proximity, or if she guessed what I had in mind. When I turned for Dimitri, he looked at me like I was out of my mind. He also didn't stop me from climbing up to the ledge with Sydney cradled in both arms now.

Sydney looked from the ground far below us to me. Her eyes were pleading with me to rethink this, but it was too late. I was already making the leap off the ledge.

Thankfully, she had the sense not to scream on the way down. I almost rolled my eyes. If she thought that was scary, she needed to fall from a moving jet plane and land on her back at an alarming rate, then she'll see how easy of a jump in was. I landed without much of a sound, setting Sydney to her feet.

"Get to the car and take off. Don't wait for us. We'll come to you."

She nodded, knowing better than to argue. "Good luck, Rose." And with that and a caring smile flashed my way, she was gone. And so was I.

I wasn't entirely sure if I could make the jump back up to the fourth floor, but the sound of a door being broken down was motivation enough to try. I summoned all the power that I had in my legs and forced my weight into the ground at my feet. Then, using that strength I recently possessed, I launched myself into the dark night, literally going air born. In was almost surreal to land gracefully and perfectly in the window.

Of course my life wasn't going to make any of this smooth for me.

As soon I jumped from the window and took up a defense next to the Infamous Kickass Guardian, I nearly fell over backwards now that their smell was so strong and defined. I never would have thought they would have caught up with us so quickly, let alone how they knew where we were, seeing as though even my friends didn't have that information.

Dimitri and I stood face to face with two Strigoi, and they looked so calm as they stood in the room it was annoying. Then again, the way I walked so calming right up to Dimitri crouched in a defensive position as kind of hypocritical. Yes, this was my first real encounter with a Strigoi – I'm not counting the encounter with Natalie because I wasn't trained like I am now. But, I wasn't going to start off by showing them weakness. As far as I knew, I was already faster and stronger than them by far; then again there's no need to get my hopes up.

"My name is Isaiah, and this is Elena," the tall Strigoi man said aloud, motioning to a dark haired Strigoi woman beside him. He had shoulder length black hair that reminded me of Dimitri's expect it didn't look great on him like it did for my Comrade. He was as tall as Dimitri but his frame was slender, hinting that he was probably a Moroi before turning.

The woman was a different story. She was shorter – probably human before being Strigoi – but taller all at the same time. She had brown hair that looked like it had a bad highlighting job. There was something that caught my attention about their faces. The Strigoi woman's face had a little life in it. But his…his was the face of death.

"We just want to talk is all," the man said again, pulling me from my thoughts.

That was an attempt to lower our guard, but it wasn't going to work.

To my surprise – and Dimitri's – I spoke up first. "If you're smart, you'd already researched who we are and what we are capable of," I responded, surprised at how strong my voice was. "You wouldn't approach Guardians specifically like this unless you had a strong motive."

The man, Isaiah, chuckled. "You're smart, child."

"Don't call me that," I warned before he could utter anything else. For now, he stayed quiet.

The woman, however, decided to speak. "Don't waste our time, pathetic insect. We only came to see if the rumors were true."

Dimitri's eyes narrowed. "What rumors are you referring to?"

She glared at him, as if she didn't want him to do the talking; God knows he'll do it anyway. He was as stubborn as I was. "We heard there was a Dhampir that went Strigoi and was running around with another Dhampir." She looked between Dimitri and I, and then finally her gaze landed on Dimitri. "So we came to collect him and ask questions."

Yup. That struck a nerve. Not that I was supporting the idea of being what I am now – let alone liking it – I was just offended that they assumed Dimitri was the Strigoi because he was the man. Talk about sexist.

I stepped in front of him protectively. "No one's going anywhere. Not with you."

Dimitri put a hand on my shoulder, telling me to take it easy and be cautious. I brushed off that feeling of needing to impress him and just kept my hard gaze on the women Strigoi.

Elena growled low in her throat, crouching in a defensive position. I did the same. She was really starting to piss me off.

"Take it easy, ladies," Isaiah said calming, motioning Elena to back off. She obliged, but didn't look happy about it. "We came to talk. No more, no less."

I nudged Dimitri toward the window, but the fool wouldn't budge. "Then talk, because my patience is wearing thin." I didn't know how many other Strigoi were out there, but I didn't want to chance sticking around to find out.

"We want to ask who brought you about to this…lifestyle?" His eyes held curiosity and wonder. My eyes held impatientness and anger; with a pinch of Rose that mischief.

"I'd say that's none of your damn business, but you should already know that."

"Careful, Rose," Dimitri warned from behind me.

Isaiah seemed to ignore my comment. "Whoever it was must have been some kind of idiot to let you run free like this. If anything they should have brought you straight to me." His lips twisted up in an ugly grin. "I would have made sure you were tame before letting you run loose."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Where all Strigoi this stuck up?

"No one is going anywhere with you. You wanted to talk, and you got it."

"Ah, sweet girl, we are far from being done. We must speak with that creature behind you; ask him how it is he can walk in the day time and not burn, as well as why is eyes have not changed."

I tried to hide my eyes widening, but I'm not sure I did a good job – I also ignored the fact that they continued to believe that Dimitri was the one that "turned". It made sense, though. Dimitri was like my own personal bodyguard, much like the reference he had the other day. There wasn't one point in time where he left my side, and if he did, it wasn't more than five minutes. They wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between us if they never seen us fight or move. It was comforting to realize all this, but also extremely annoying – in case no one's noticed, I don't like being protected.

If they know he – I mean,_ I_ – can walk in the sunlight, then that means they've been watching us for days, at the very least early this morning.

"Okay, so besides to chit-chat, what else do you want?" I asked, loosening my body from the tense stance I was in. I thought maybe my muscles would ache from sitting like that from so long, but I've been wrong before.

Isaiah shrugged half-heartedly, seeming a little too relaxed for my liking. "Only to talk. Nothing more than a…friendly visit."

"Yeah, well, she doesn't act too 'friendly'," I said, inclining my head toward Elena.

He chuckled this time, though I didn't see what was so funny. "She is new at this, and barely has had the time – or patience – for Diplomatic solutions."

I almost snorted to that. "And what if we don't want to talk?"

"Then we _make you talk_!" Elena growled, ready to – once again – launch herself at me. That was proving Isaiah's point about her not being so fond on Diplomatic solutions.

Dimitri and I both tensed, waiting for her move, but it was like she wouldn't – or rather _couldn't_ – without Isaiah's say. I couldn't believe that these beasts had loyalty to each other, but maybe some kind of ranking system. It was obvious that if Isaiah didn't say, it didn't happen. But the look in Elena's eyes told me she very much wanted to go on the offensive.

"One more step and you're dead, sweetheart," I threatened. I found myself reach for a stake at my side that wasn't there. Ha. Who would have thought that was the natural reaction when battling against Strigoi.

Elena gave a not-so-humorous laugh. "Like a little Dhampir like you could take me down. Not possible. You wouldn't stand a chance." She looked at Dimitri. "Him, on the other hand, might have a better fighting chance."

I growled low in my throat, tensing my muscles. I was so sick of them underestimating me. It was more frustrating than Dimitri's underestimating abilities because he was doing it as an attempt to protect me – yes, I just now realized this. This situation, on the other hand, was just annoying.

Speaking of Dimitri, I felt his strong hand on my shoulder. I looked over at him, into those beautiful brown eyes. What I found there almost made me smile. I loved the way this man thinks.

I stood talker in front of Dimitri, keeping the fear from my features and eyes, and said in what I hoped was a strong voice, "I swore to keep him from you creatures. And I won't hesitate to put my life on the line."

"Spoken like a true Guardian. They really do send you out in the field earlier, now-a-days," he mused, glancing from me to Dimitri. "And you really believe this child can protect you."

"I said not to call me that," I interrupted, but he was barely paying attention to me.

"She is brave, I'll give her that. Though maybe not as smart I had given her credit for."

I pushed back the urge to smile: they took the bait.

I glared at him, but kept my mouth shut.

He continued while turning to pace farther toward the door. "She was stupid to think she could take us both on, but was smart to believe we had a motive to being here, approaching you directly. Word has spread about you two escaping the prison at Court, and it won't just be me coming after you, you know." He stopped right in front of the night stand between the beds. He picked up my forgotten sun glasses and studied them more a moment. "That is, unless you come with us."

"We will not give in to you selfish freaks," I snapped. I didn't mean to say it – it just came out! I can only keep my mouth shut for so long.

Isaiah's gaze cut to me, his expression blank, but his eyes showing just how impatient he was getting with my temper. (Him and everyone else in the world, apparently.) "I was not talking about you, but your extraordinary friend behind you."

I glanced at Dimitri, who opted to stay silent throughout most of this conversation, before turning my eyes back on our unexpected and unwanted guests. They wanted him? For what? And why? I mean, in reality, they want me, but we weren't telling them that. I'm not even sure how this making any sense. He is – I mean, _I am_ – already some kind of tricked-out version of them. There's no way they'd treat him – I mean, me – like they did at court. Then that means…

"You want to recruit him…" I said under my voice, though I'm sure they heard it crystal clear, what with their enhanced hearing. "You want him on your side! That's why you came here. You're going to try to take him." Keep up our act was getting more and more difficult. Because if they did try taking him, they'd realize he's not that one they're looking for and make his about 15 times harder for me, because I don't think I'm ready to fight Strigoi, despite my training so far.

Dimitri must have sensed how uneasy I was about this and stepped closer, his hand never leaving my shoulder like it was a leash keeping my back from taking off. "Seeing as though you have just learned of my existence, you have no idea just how strong I am. For all you know, I could have just fed and you'd have no way of knowing it." Just the mention of Dimitri drinking blood made me squeamish. Thank God I didn't need blood to survive.

Isaiah nodded. "This is true. I did smell a human when I entered... You have a valid point, my friend."

"We are not friends," Dimitri responded immediately. "Nor will we ever be. All you need to know is that this girl here is making sure I stay out of sight and stay away from those I would harm. That is all. You have no need for hunting us down." He pulled on my shoulder and we both took a step toward the window. Finally! We were getting out of here. "It seems you traveled all this way for nothing."

"So it seems," the Strigoi man said slowly, coming to stand next to Elena again. "But it also seems that you have let yourself become aware of your killing habits, rather than allowing yourself to enjoy it." He was still holding my sunglasses, but I didn't say anything about it. It wasn't worth getting me and Dimitri killed over. "We will meet again sometimes soon, Guardian Child," he said, directing his words to me now, "and when we do, you had better be ready to defend him and yourself, because there may not be much talking next time we cross paths."

Dimitri nodded. "Maybe." Then I felt his arm wrap around my waist, pulling my tight to his side – like I had done for Sydney not five minutes ago. I knew what he was going to do; this guy had to be the smartest man alive.

We both stepped up to the window sill; it was a rather low window, so it didn't take much effort of concentration. We probably looked like a couple of suicide jumpers, standing in to window ready to turn a jump.

Isaiah and Elena both looked at us strangely, like they really did regard us as the suicide type.

"Until then," was the last thing Dimitri said as we launched ourselves from the window.

I let my instincts kick into action, taking the lead in the fall as the ground quickly approached us from underneath. Dimitri stayed calm, completely trusting my ability to make a second, four story jump out a window. I touched town, effortlessly absorbing to landing. That was immediately followed up by taking the weight of his fall as well. It was a bit different from me and Sydney's descent, by he took it calmly and let me take the full force of his landing.

Quickly, I glanced up at the window in time to see Isaiah approach the window and look down, probably to see if we had survived the landing. Then, just like that, his form disappeared. I took that as a chance to run. Just as quickly as he had, I took off, dragging Dimitri behind me as I fast walked – compensating for Dimitri's running speed toward town. We needed a car.

Reading my mind – which seemed to be a reoccurring thing lately – Dimitri spoke up. "We need transportation. Fast." His voice flooded through my ears, and I realized it wasn't my hearing picking up on what he said, it was that nifty gadget he was making my wear, the watch.

I nodded. "Agreed, Comrade, but where? The people around here are no doubt starting to recognize us. That may complicate a sneaky escape."

We turned down the street and I slowed my speed, afraid a civilian might notice our fast approaching speed and become suspicious. His breathing was heavy, but that didn't stop him from walking along side me, keeping up with me easily. "No one said we were stealing a car, Roza."

I looked at him questioning, realizing what he said. "Seriously? You're keeping something from my again? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?"

He smirked, letting it slid onto his face smoothly. "Who said you came close to teaching me such a lesson, Roza?"

I glared at him. He was seriously going to tease me at a time like this?

I let the subject drop right there, not bothering with a retort. I suddenly felt like he was putting a little too much trust in my abilities. I mean, I was happy and glad that he trusted me so deeply, but what if I couldn't get us out of here? What if Isaiah came after us anyway and caught us before we could get too far?

There goes my self-confidence.

"Roza?" his voice broke through my thoughts, and I realized we were now standing in front of our training building. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. But there was something on my mind. "So are you going to tell me what the plan is?"

He didn't answer right away, and I was starting to wonder if this was going to result in the same outcome as the last argument we had. He lead me around the building where the back entrance was, and I was surprised to see a black Suburban parked there. Immediately I thought someone found us out and tensed. Dimitri must have sensed it because he shook his head. "It's our ride, Roza."

I untensed a little – mostly due to confusion. "Really?"

He nodded his head this time. "Really. Sydney informed me of it last night after you fell asleep. Abe had someone he trusted drop it off for us in case of an emergency such as this occurred."

I nodded, mostly still trying to process just how fast my old man can work his assets to get what he needs done…well, _done_. And fast.

We got in the vehicle, him driving (of course), while I took up the passenger seat. It was almost weird not have that two-is-company-but-three-is-a-crowd feeling without Sydney here.

Sydney. I hoped she was okay.

Then a thought occurred to me. "You know, if they smelled Sydney there, than shouldn't they have noticed the difference between you and me?"

He shrugged. "I'm sure they couldn't tell just by how we looked, but you do have a point." His eyes narrowed slightly from thought. "Maybe you have a scent that they don't recognize yet. I'm almost sure they could sence a difference in the room, but they couldn't tell who it was."

I looked at him in question. "So, not only are you accusing me of having a weird 'odor'" – I used the hand quotations – "about me that makes even Strigoi run for the hills, but also that you would made a better freak than me."

He smirked and nodded. "Yeah, something like that," he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not sure whether to be reassured or insulted."

As he tore onto the back road and veered us away from the small town, I realized something, jerking my semi-relaxed body into a straight up position with a start.

"Those people! We're leaving them at his mercy! We can't just-"

"There's nothing we could do about it right now," he said calmly, counteracting with my hysteria. "Not when we're trying to stay under cover."

I was appalled. What was he saying? Where's that protective Guardian character he seemed to be so fond of lately? "Are you serious? We're just going to leave those people there? They're defenseless, for Christ's sake!"

"And it's no different than if we had never come across the town at all," he said, his voice never leaving that calm range. "Isaiah would have eventually come across the town looking for us, and they would have still been at his mercy. We can't always stop them, Rose, and this is going to be one of those times." It wasn't long before we hit the freeway and was going 75MPH down the dark roads. "Besides, there's no way I am letting you go back there."

I snorted. "You and I both know there's no way you could keep me in the car. I could just jump out right now; my body could handle the impact."

He glanced from the road only for a second, those wise eyes meeting mine. "You're right, I couldn't stop you if I tried. Then why don't you?"

That caught me off guard. My snarky face dropped off my face. When he was sure I wasn't going to say anything, he continued.

"Sometimes the best thing to do is run; you remember me telling you that at the academy?"

I didn't respond. I wasn't even really thinking. I was just…well, being there, trying to urge my body to do what I said I would – no, _could_ – do. If I was going to say I'd shoot my know foot, would I do it? If I said I would jump out of the car and take on Isaiah and Elena, then why couldn't I do it? Why couldn't I take that step to do what I wanted? What was holding me here?

That shouldn't have even crossed my mind; I knew what it was keeping me in the car as it sped down the highway. Or rather, _who_ it was.

**Yup, that's it. For now, anyway. **

**Was babysitting my cousins when I wrote most of this one. Their regular babysitter went on some kind of trip and I was asked to watch them. I've babysat them before, so it wasn't anything new. But, you know, all good moods must come to an end. My youngest cousin decided to say that she'd rather have their normal babysitter rather than me... I've known them their whole lives and they've known her for 6 months; anyone else sensing the hurt here?**

**Sorry about that.**

**Anyway, the next one should be up soon, like always. **

**Keep me in the loop on what you think of it! Seriously guys, I love your thoughts and watch them all!**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	13. Chapter 13

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**There's going to be a time skip for this chapter. I know it seems like I'm skipping over the driving scenes (which I am), but it's also because Rose needs more "training" and Dimitri needs a little more trust in Rose, so they will develop all of that over a period of two months. **

**By now you have to realize that everything we aren't seeing at court is what happened in the book. Obviously except the whole 'Lissa-**_**doesn't**_**-want-to-be-queen' detail, as well as Rose not being accused of killing Tatiana. Because, you know, she**_** does**_** in this story. **

**Okay. If there are any more questions, concerns, and/or comments, you know how to reach me. (:**

**Anyway, here it is:**

**Rose's POV {Two Months Later…}**

When you have nothing but time on your hands, shit happens. Yeah, we were still alive, and of course that's a bonus, but it was so boring. Right now we are in Ann Harbor Michigan. I don't know what it was about this place, but it told me something went down here recently. Maybe I had some kind of sixth sense for danger – or I was just being paranoid.

And when I say shit happens, I mean a mix of good, bad, and completely confusing.

One good thing that happened was we got away from Isaiah and Elena safely, and haven't seen them since. As far as I know, they don't know where we are yet, but I'm sure they'll try to find us the same way they found us the first time. Another good thing: Lissa is now Queen of our Vampire Race! She took the thrown and won the hearts of her people by far. One bad thing that happened was Sydney got caught by her own people – the Alchemists – for helping a criminal and a supposed dead Strigoi. Thankfully they have no real evidence that I'm alive or where we are. Abe did his best to defend her, and kept her out of any involvement with us. Another bad thing: Abe can't get to us much anymore. What with Lissa becoming Queen, they want anybody who's anybody there to represent their families and show their respects. During his last visit, he managed to give us a cell phone that we can reach him through in case of emergencies.

As for the confusing thing; well, let's just say Dimitri and I aren't sure how to react around each other. Sure, we train our asses off and I'm knocking Dimitri on his back side more and more. I'm starting to gain that speed of a Strigoi, but able to control it enough to defend myself and not harm Guardians. Yeah, have to take those long trips from city to city, and during those rides is where we don't say a word to each other. The only time we do talk is for directions or the occasional notification that either of us is hungry. Why? Because of what happens between the early morning trainings and the next car ride which is only two or three days apart from each other.

Okay, here's an example of a time Dimitri and I were at each other's throats.

And then at each other's – ahem! – lips…

**[Flashback]**

"_Rose, stop. Talk to me."_

"_Hell no! You just embarrassed the hell out of me in there."_

"_Rose, you weren't even standing there. You were half way across the store."_

"_Yeah, and you were talking about me like I wasn't there!"_

_Confused? Well, we were just at the grocery store in whatever state and city we stopped in for a rest. Dimitri sent me to get a couple of frozen lunches, while he went to get anything that would keep us busy at the hotel. Deciding I didn't yet trust this city, I listened in on a conversation he was having with what sounded like another woman:_

"_Hey," said the female voice, flirtatious written all over it. "What are you doing in an isle like this? Looking for a little fun?"_

"_Um…no. Just getting my wife her nail polish she wanted."_

_Wait…wife?_

"_Oh." The girl's voice sounded disappointed, but that didn't last long. "Well, if she's not here, why don't we test out one of those over there? She won't even know you're gone."_

_Furious now, I followed their voices to an isle full of woman products, hair and nail stuff, and…intimacy stuff. That woman had the nerve to suggest something like that? Here in a public place, no less! _

_My blood was pumping but neither Dimitri nor the slut seen me coming. (Score one for Rose for sneaking up on Dimitri!)_

_What is it with woman being attracted to Dimitri, not to mention the freakishly annoying woman? It was becoming very tedious…_

"_No," I heard Dimitri say sternly. I stopped, wanting to hear what he had to say to her. "I wouldn't ever do that to her or any other woman. If you had any sense of respect, you wouldn't put your own body through such torment. Besides, she's already pregnant with our first child."_

_My jaw dropped, and whatever frozen food I managed to grab before angrily stalking away fell from my hands, earning attention from both the woman – who looked younger than me – and Dimitri. He said…_what_?_

_Her eyes traveled from me to Dimitri, looking over his shoulder. "She doesn't look pregnant to me," she said, inclining her head in my direction. He snapped around and his eyes widened, regarding me with realization that I'd heard everything._

_At first I didn't move, I didn't even yell at him for even saying something like that. I was frozen with shock. When he made a move to come toward me, I unfroze. I quickly picked up the food and shot past them, ignoring Dimitri's calls as I went. _

_I mean, can you believe what he said to that woman? It wasn't just embarrassing, it was humiliating. There was a deeper meaning to all of what he said, but he doesn't seem to get it._

"_Rose, please, stop!" with his free hand he grabbed me by the shoulder and wretched me around. I barley stopped myself from doing a complete 180 turn. "Talk to me. Tell me where I went wrong."_

"'_Where you went wrong'? Dimitri, you lied to that-that…_child _about us being married!"_

"_It was a cover story; she wouldn't leave me alone."_

_I tsked, rolling my eyes. "Oh, so now you have to humiliate me in order to cover your true identity?" I realized I was saying all this a little too loud, but my mind was reeling too much to care at this point._

_He looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear then lowered his voice slightly. "No, it was just the first thing that came to mind." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, Rose, I'm sorry about that. Normally cover stories come to me in an instant, but I was thinking about my family and…and it was just…" He didn't finish, but I could guess what he was going to say._

"_It was just something you've been wanting, a family of your own," I said slowly, feeling that sick nausea of tears welling up in my chest. I pushed the feeling back, trying to keep it down. "And you used the one woman that loves you, and that can't give you that life, as a cover story for your own sake." I was feeling hurt, disappointment, and pure hatred for that woman in there; I couldn't keep the tears back any more. _

_So I ran._

**[End Flashback]**

After I made a lap around town, I found myself back at the hotel. When I got there, Dimitri was waiting up for me. That was the night he told me he loved me, and that he was going to keep me same because he couldn't stand the thought of me being out here alone. It was so sweet and actually brought me to tears. Yeah, the great Rose Hathaway broke down and crumbled like a piece of paper. But can you blame me? The last couple of months have been hell…

Well, needless to say that night made the top best nights in my live – undead or not. We sure as hell didn't spend the night in separate beds…if you know what I mean.

He told me he was sorry for what he suggested back at the store and how I was all he needed in this world, that he didn't need any of that with me. Though it was a nice gesture, it didn't change the fact that he could never have that with me, and it was eating me alive that I couldn't give him everything.

There were several others like that, and it was starting to tear us apart despite how close we got after each fight. And not just as partners in this escape, as well as…whatever we were to each other before breaking out of that cell. I told him I love him – and vise versa – but there's a void between us, and I'm struggling to get around it.

I love Dimitri. He's everything a woman needs in a man: strong, smart, handsome, understanding (sometimes), a good kisser… Okay. So some of those are a little less important than others, but that's beside the point. If he was so perfect, than what's wrong with me that makes us clash so badly?

"Rose. Rose!" I heard my name being called and snapped out of whatever trance I seemed to be in.

"Wha…?" I looked up at Dimitri in a daze, my eyes slowly sliding over his half naked body. He had just gotten out of the shower, his hair still dripping as some strands stuck to his face. His chest was bare, still slightly damp from the humidity of the bathroom, his boxers peeking out from the top of the black sweats that sat low on his hips.

Hot damn. A toned, muscular body like that could make any woman forget why she was mad.

"Rose, it's your turn for a shower." His voice drew my attention from his abs to his smiling face. A very mocking smile, at that.

I nodded, standing from the bed I had been sitting on as he walked past to get a shirt from his bag. I reached into my own bag, grabbing a tank top, sports bra, and sleeping shorts for the night. Not that I was sleeping tonight, but because Sydney took her lap top, I liked being comfortable while fiddling with what I did manage to grab before ditching Isaiah and Elena: my birthday presents.

I hadn't touched that book Dimitri got me, saving that for an _extremely_ rainy day. But I did occasionally sit out on the roof of the small motel – yes, we down-graded to motels again – to sharpen the pocket knife from Adrian. I've also been writing in that book Eddie got me, though it was mostly used for shopping lists of stuff we needed.

I made my way to the bathroom and locked the door behind me, only to realize the lock was broken. I sighed and set my clothes on the counter next to the semi-rusted sink. I wiped the moisture from the mirror left over from Dimitri's shower. I stared blankly at the reflection that dared call itself beautiful. I see all the flaws lying there, and yet he'd call me beautiful, and ever go as far as to call me "the perfect match for him".

I shoot my head. "And I may _never_ know what he sees in me," I mumbled to myself.

Deciding that wasn't an important topic, I turned on the shower and stripped off my t-shirt and jeans. My bra and underwear were next, but an excruciating pain broke through my head, like someone smacked me with a sledge hammer.

A loud scream that I quickly realized was mine rang through the small, echo-y room. I collapsed to the floor holding my head, willing it to stop pounding and throbbing. More cried of pain escaped my lips as I heard Dimitri pounding on the door, saying something that I couldn't make out. There was a squeak of a door and a sharp pain in my leg. I ignored everything, even Dimitri's pleas to tell him what wrong. I was too focused on the voice I was hearing in my head; one that wasn't my own.

_Rose? Are you there? Can you hear me?_

Ugh… the pounding in my head! I don't know why this was happening, but I'm not sure how much more of it I could take. It felt like a snake was slithering through every groove of my brain, leaving a trail of acid in its wake.

_Lissa?_

_Oh, thank God! I finally reached you!_

I felt another huge wave of pain wash over me, making me scream yet again. I realized then that it was Lissa's bond that was causing me this pain, though through the pain I felt her relief. Fate has a cruel way of torturing someone such as myself, and apparently has a twisted sense of humor.

_Liss, that's great. But…whatever you're doing is about to kill me. Literally._

_What? How?_

Her confusion and worry – which I'm realizing is her emotion are what fuels the pain I feel – made the pain only stronger, letting more screams erupt from my chest.

_Lissa… Please…stop. You're hurting me…_

Suddenly, the pain stopped, like someone flipped a switch and it was gone. I gasped as much needed air rushed into my lungs. From what I could tell, Dimitri was cradling my shaking boding in his arms and his gentle hand stroking my hair and face, as his voice tried to sooth me.

The last thing I remember is him lifting me from the floor, telling me that I would be okay.

I hoped he was right.

**End.**

**I know, I'm evil. But sometimes things like this are necessary. Especially since it was such a good opportunity for a cliff hanger that I just couldn't pass up. Lol. **

**And I'm sorry I took a kind of mini vacation. I have been pre-writing these chapters – mainly trying to stay at least one or two chapters ahead of each update. That way I could keep up with frequent updates, but forgot that I was running low and typed this up as quick as I could. I promise to write more over the next couple days. On the promising side though, this whole chapter was a little over 5 pages. Haha. Not bad for just whipping this up! (:**

**So, I'm not sure I like how I approached this idea of Lissa communicating with Rose. I mean, Lissa is trying to communicate using Spirit as a boost to find Rose – that was kind of a spoiler as well as an insight to my story – though it clearly backfired in so many ways. I don't know. What do you guys think? Keep it this way or change it?**

**Let me know!**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	14. Chapter 14

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Okay. So believe it or not, this is chapter fourteen of 'What Now?' I don't know if the title actually plays in to the story like I thought it would, but I can see it fitting. For now, anyway. God knows I'll want to change it… **

**Anyway, I tried to live up to my promise about creating more chapters ahead of time so that I can keep updating like I have been. I don't know if I want to be too consistent with the updates, but I know I want to get at least one chapter up every 3-4 days. **

**So, in the name of all that is Rose and Dimitri's love…let's get on with the story:**

**Dimitri's POV**

I will be the first to admit that this is not how I pictured the last couple of months to go. What happened at the grocery store… it was unforgiveable. I should have known she'd be able to hear, and I should have known she'd be lingering somewhere nearby, but I still said what was on my mind. This only goes to show why Guardians are trained to keep their emotions and expressions hidden – it only causes trouble. But it was hard to do that with Rose. She brings so much out of me; I can't keep that Guardian mask up for very long. She's also the kind of person that goes looking for trouble, so it can be hard to keep an eye on her sometimes.

All that I really cared about was that we were safe – for now. After another long day of training and arguing who would take the watch shirt tonight, I got in the shower to wash away the bad, hoping to start off fresh again tomorrow.

That seemed to be an on-going thing between Rose and I. We would always fight and argue, but in the end someone has to win. Whether or not the loser is happy about it, we've learned to cope for the sake of another argument, even though I know Rose loves to argue her point. All in all, we've learned to work around it all, and hopefully be able to by-pass fighting all together.

As I stepped out of the shower, clad in only my boxers and sweats just because I know it would put Rose in a good mood, I noticed she was staring off into space. Her eyes were blank, like she was looking right through the walls in a far off space. I briefly considered her being able to see through solid objects but quickly dismissed it; if I knew Rose like I thought I did, she'd have a different expression on her face if she had seen through the thin bathroom wall.

"Rose."

No answer, she still looked kind of out of it. I tried again, my voice louder this time: "Rose!"

That did it. She seemed to snap back to reality. She blinked a couple times and then found her gaze on me.

"Wha…?" But she didn't finish; she reacted exactly how I thought she'd react. As her eyes went from head to toe, taking in my appearance, I couldn't help but question my motivation to appear in front of her like this. Did I do just because I knew she wouldn't mind, or because I knew it'd distract her in a way? Despite my motive, her expression was something to chuckle at, though she didn't seem to notice.

She was getting better at controlling that hunger within her as long as she stays well rested and fed. I see why she hates it when I encourage her to eat and sleep – it sounds like I'm taking care of a lost puppy rather than the woman I love.

"Rose, it's your turn for a shower," I said at least, drawing her attention back to my eyes. A mocking smile drew onto my lips almost automatically. I couldn't help it – she looked so cute, like she was caught with her hand in a cookie jar.

She just nodded, an almost annoyed expression on her face as she stood from the bed and collected her clothes. I watched her go the bathroom and shut the door behind her. I wonder briefly if she remembered that the door doesn't lock…

That thought, however, was interrupted by a suddenly flash of small like blinking on the nightstand between our beds. It was the cell phone Abe had given us. Abe can be a very scaring man, considering the things that he can get accomplished, but her also cared about the well-being of his only, trouble-attracting daughter. Then again, who doesn't worry about her?

I picked it up before the first ring ended.

"Hello?"

His voice could be heard on the other end. "Ah, Dimitri! So prompt in answering my call. We are talking on a secure line, and no one can hear what we are saying. Besides, what kind of master mind would I be if I couldn't keep something as simple as this under wraps?" he paused, waiting for me to comment on his speech, but I didn't. He took that as a cue to continue. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm coming to you tomorrow, so don't go too far. I want to meet with you and discuss another safe place to keep you."

"What about you being to be at Court?"

"The prin – I mean, _queen_ – has released me from my holdings here. I'm a free man once again."

"And what about everyone else? Have they picked up on our trail?"

"You really are questioning my master mind skills, aren't you?"

Uh oh. I think I just insulted one of the most powerful men in the world. "Uh…no. That's not what I meant. I was just wondering if-"

His laugh cut me off, nearly taking me by surprise, and I don't surprise easily. "I'm just messing with you, Belikov. Relax!"

I sighed heavily and nodded my head, mostly to myself. "Okay. Should I tell Rose?" As if on cue, I heard the faucet turn and the shower run, reminding me that she's still in ear shot.

His voice sounded amused. "If I know my daughter like I think I do, she doesn't like to be kept in the dark, Dimitri. We wouldn't want another incident like the last time you kept something from her to occur, would we?"

I almost shuddered at the thought. "Right," I said. Rose can be just like her father sometimes: scary when she's mad. I was going to ask him if he could bring a change of clothes when I head Rose's ear piercing scream come from the bathroom.

"What was that? Was that Rose?" Abe asked through the receiver, but I didn't answer him. I tossed the phone on the bed and ran to the bathroom door. At that point a million things ran through my head, but none of them made sense or fit the situation. Why was she screaming? What is going on?

I knocked rather hard on the thin door. "Rose! Are you okay? What happened?" I asked through the door, but didn't get a response. I was seriously starting to worry about this. What else could go wrong?

"Rose, open the door or I'm coming in," I said, showing the urgency in my voice. I waited three seconds before snapping the door open, only to be stopped short. I looked around the door and saw Rose's body curled up on the bathroom floor. It was her leg that stopped the door, but I managed to squeeze in around the frame and crouch next to her on the way too small bathroom floor. I noticed then that she had stripped down to her underwear and bra, clearly about to get in the shower. I ignored her nearly naked body – not that I hadn't seen her that way before – and tried to focus on finding out what was going on.

"Rose! What's wrong?" I asked frantically, trying to piece anything that made sense together, but there was nothing in the bathroom that hinted danger of any kind. The water was still running in the shower, making it humid once again. She head was clenched between her hands, her entire body shaking and spazzing. It was frightening to see her wither in pain, and I didn't like the view of her crumpled body on the floor; it was like an instant replay of what happened in Victor's cell.

"Rose! Can you hear me? What's going on?

The only response that I got was another scream erupting from her throat like a shrill, high-pitched whistle, vibrating my ear drums and making me flinch.

I crawled around her body to lean against the tub. I gathered her in my arms, pulling half her body into my lap and holding her against my chest – much like I did back in Victor's cell. As she whimpered and clenched and unclenched her fist in her hair I just held her; I wasn't sure what else I could do besides hold her close and wait for…whatever this is to pass. Then, like someone flipped a switch, she stopped shaking. She took a gasping breath and started breathing again, like she was holding her breath the whole time.

"Roza!" I ran my hand through her hair and gently stroked her face. I gathered the rest of her body in my arms and carried her bridal style out of the bathroom. "Everything will be okay, Roza. Just stay with me." But she was already out. She was still breathing, but unconscious.

I laid her down on her bed, being careful of her head. Her face was relaxed but there was still eminence of pain in her features. She looked so…broken and fragile laying there.

I swore in Russian under my breath. What in God's name just happened? And why do all the bad things seem to happen to my Roza?

I saw the phone on the other bed come to life, grabbing my attention. I picked it up and answered it.

"Abe?"

Oh, it was Abe alright, but he didn't sound the least bit happy. "What the hell, Belikov? What's going on with-"

I cut him off. "I don't know what happened. She screamed and I found her on the floor in the bathroom." I decided to leave out the fact that she was practically naked during all of this. "She's fine; just passed out from the pain."

"What pain? I don't understand."

I started pacing the room. "Neither do I, sir. One second she's fine then the next she curled up in a ball on the floor."

He sighed on the other end, clearly as confused as I was about all of this. "Okay. I have to go, but I'm coming there earlier now. I'll be there in the morning – in human time. Don't think about going anywhere with Rose in that condition."

I nodded, agreeing with him completely. "I wouldn't dream of it. We'll be here."

He paused, unsure of what to say next. "Be careful, Belikov. With Rose like this… I don't want to think about what would happen if there was an attack while she's vulnerable."

I stopped pacing. His voice was strained, like he was holding something back. He was afraid for his daughter, and he was making it clear that I watch over her until he gets here.

"You be careful too, Abe."

There was a click and the line went dead. I snapped it shut and placed it on the bedside table. I sighed and ran a head through my still damp hair. Why? Why was this happening? How many more obstacles did we have to jump through? What other danger can be inflicted upon us?

I pulled a shirt over my head, and pulled the blanket over Rose's frail body. As I looked down at her, her breathing even with every rise and fall of her chest, I suddenly felt exhausted. I realized that during Rose's "episode" my Adrenaline had kicked into high gear and was the only thing keeping me on my feet.

I turned and sat in the old chair in the corner of the room opposite of the door. After I found a position comfortable enough and sat still, there was complete silence.

The perfect kind of silence to…sleep.

**Yeah, I know, a horrible place to leave it at, but what could I do? I was running out of things to say in his POV at this point. And I figured if I launched into a Rose POV I'd get carried away and it'd be too long for this chapter anyway.**

**So, instead, I'll give you Lissa's POV! How's that sound? Good? Good. It'll be short, but it's better than nothing.**

**Here it is:**

**Lissa's POV**

"No! We will continue the search for Guardian Belikov!" I all but yelled across the huge, echoy room. I also slammed my fist on the desk in frustration. "I don't care who said what before the elections, or who wants what done right now! Rose may be lost…" God it hurt to say that, but I had to keep her a secret at all cost. "But Dimitri is – or was, whatever the case may be – a loyal Guardian, and I want him found and brought back! I just been to be sure that he is either alive or died a true Guardian."

One old-looking woman that seemed completely appalled by my words spoke up. "With all due respect, we need the protection here. Strigoi could easily get through our defenses."

I was shocked. They really did see our Guardians as shields to hide behind. "You people are seriously afraid of them? You have all the power in the world at your fingertips – literally! You could fight back if you had the brain or decency to do so. I know a few Moroi that would rather be defending themselves then hiding like the cowards you are." I know I was ranting but I had to get that off my chest.

The room was silent. Clearly no one had thought that I'd be so negatively open about our way of life. Not to mention that fact that insulted every one of them, but that part felt good because they were all really starting to tick me off.

"But, my Queen-" one of my newly appointed advisors started.

I groaned, cutting him off. "No, no more today. I will not change my decision to send out search parties for Dimitri. My sister and I are now top priority in order to protect the Dragomir line, I understand that, but I will not let my best Guardian go down like that." I waved them – all eighteen of my advisors and royal pain in butts – away with a wave of my hand. "Please, you are all dismissed." As they slowly poured from the room, I slumped forward in my seat, leaning my face in my hands. That meeting may have only been about ten minutes long, but it sure was exhausting.

I thought back to what I was doing before the meeting was called. Mia had done some research about communicating through a bond by using spirit. She told me what I had to do – it sounded easy enough. It was supposed to be a simple two-way connection between Rose and me, no complications. But something must have gone wrong – I must have made some kind of mistake. She said I was…killing her, that I was causing her pain! How could I have done something like that? I mean, I didn't know I was doing it at first, but the strain I heard in her voice was enough to make me sever the connection and come crashing back to reality. I hadn't realized the strain it was causing my own body in the physical plane until I found myself in Christian's arms. I guess even a short connection like that had made me weak in the knees and I nearly hit the floor – scared the crap out of my surrounding Guardians.

I sighed. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a best friend; I can't even take care of the only childhood friend that I have.

A knock at the door across the door pulled me from my thoughts. Focusing on the door, I sensed a familiar aura. A smile crept on my face.

"Come in."

Christian strode into the room without hesitation, making it look like he was meant to be in the room with me at this very moment. It was actually very sexy. I giggled at him when he noticed me watching him and made a goofy, macho-man face.

"There's my beautiful Queen," He said before planting a gentle kiss on my lips.

I relished in the warmth of it and smiled more. "And my handsome King."

He rolled his eyes. "You and I both know that there's no way they'll let me be a part of ruling this God-forsaken, screwed up race. You are all the ruling they will need. I'm just your lap-dog that will follow you around until I get lost."

I laughed at his pouting. "Oh, you are and always will be a king in my eyes." I smiled and pulled him down for another light kiss. "Besides, you know what they say about us will never means anything to me. All I want is for you to stand by my side, catch me when I fall, and tell me I'm doing a good job," I said trying to be encouraging. "Just like you did today, when you caught me in the hall earlier."

His eyes were on mine then, his ice blue orbs looking for something in my green ones. "Speaking of that, how are you feeling?"

I shrugged, finally standing from my chair. "Better, but I'm so tired."

He nodded. "Let's get you to bed." He grabbed my hand and we started for the door.

I glared at him half-heartedly. "I'm not a child, Christian. You don't have to 'put me to bed'."

He flashed me he mischievous grin. "And maybe that's not the kind of 'sleep' that I was talking about."

I slapped his shoulder – though it didn't seem to have much effect on him – and rolled my eyes. "You are such a man, Ozera."

"And you are my fair lady, Dragomir," he said mockingly, bowing slightly as he motioned for me to go through the door first.

I smiled and took his hand to lead him out. Two Guardians were immediately behind us, making sure we were protected at all times. Though they only way I knew they were there by the press of their auras. I could sense them there, even if I couldn't see them physically.

"So, you do realize that in order for us to be King and Queen we have to be married," Christian said almost lazily, but he couldn't hide the tension in his eyes. It was almost cute to see him this way.

Though I'm not one to talk; I felt a blush of my own creep up on my face at the thought of getting married. I wasn't ready for that, not until this coronation thing blows over.

"Yeah, I know that," I said at last. "But…I'm not even queen yet. They want to postpone the coronation until I'm eighteen."

He nodded and seemed to like the slight subject change. "So, another couple of weeks then?"

I looked at him in surprise. "You remember my birthday?"

He nodded, that cocky grin lighting up his face. "I remember a lot about you, Lissa." He looked suggestively at my body, which earned him another slap. Is time he rubbed the sore spot.

"You know, you don't have to keep hitting me. I already know that you love me." He shook his head. "Girls and their weird ways of showing affection…"

This time I had to resist the urge to raise my hand; I'd only be playing his game.

I noticed the Guardians were starting to close all of the curtains around Court, meaning the sun was rising in a couple of hours. I hadn't realized how tired I was until the mere thought of sleeping occurred to me. It wasn't long after that until my room came into view and my need for sleep grew.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked Christian as we stood in front of my bedroom door. I didn't really give him a chance to answer and continued: "Can you go find Jill before she goes to bed? I want her to meet me in the Garden tomorrow morning. You know, have so sister-bonding time?"

He raised a brow. "So, you're serious about getting to know her?"

I nodded. "Of course I do. She's my sister. I may have dragged her into a life her mother never wanted for her, but I'm determined to form a bond That way – maybe one day – she'll trust, me and possibly see me as her older sister."

He smiled and kissed my forehead. "This is why I love you. You're so caring and sweet." He pulled me close to hug me. "Who knows? Maybe one day you'll change me and turn me into a sensitive guy, and succeed in helping me turn over a new leaf and I'll be a kind man?"

There was a pause, and then we both burst into laughter, cracking up in each other's arms. We got a couple of strange looks from people passing by, but we ignored them. When our laughs died down, Christian pulled away. "I'm sure Rose would agree."

That statement made my smile completely disappear from my face.

Rose… I missed her so much.

He took in the expression on my face, immediately regretting what he said. "I'll tell Jill to meet you tomorrow. Try not to worry about Rose too much. Abe says she's fine and her and Dimitri are surviving on their own." His hands were on my face as he placed a lingering kiss on my lips and smiled lightly. "I love you."

I smiled too, not able to resist his rare sweet side. "I love you, too."

With one last kiss on my cheek, he disappeared from sight. I opened the door to my room and stepped inside. Because I didn't yet have the luxury of a queen's life, my room was rather small, and I didn't have the privacy of a door to hide behind to change so there weren't any Guardian's stationed inside. It was more of less like a dorm at St. Vladimir's.

I noticed the window was open and a breeze came through the room. I didn't think anything of it and turned my back on the window to change. As I opened a drawer, I suddenly felt as if I wasn't alone.

I spun around, feeling the hairs on the back of my next prickle like I was being watched. What I saw made my body freeze up, not allowing me to react.

_What was going on here? How is this happening?_

Before I realized what happened, I was knocked out cold. The room spun and I saw stars dance in my vision. I felt a force pulling me under, and I fell into oblivion of darkness...

**Yup. That's it! **

**I hope you weren't expecting a long boring speech about my life , because there won't be one today. (I know, thank God!)**

**I hope you liked it so far!**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	15. Chapter 15

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**This chapter…I think you'll like. It's going to be funny as hell! Abe walks in at the wrong moment, and is surprised at what he finds on the other side of the motel room door. (Remember, I'm keeping it T Rated, so there are no details or heavy descriptions.)**

**I realize I should probably get back to what happened to Lissa, but I had to get this out first.**

**Rose's POV**

Sleep was a blessing. Even though I don't need it as much, right now it felt great to lay my head on the pillow, breath in the fresh fabric and curl up under the blanket. It was like I didn't have a care in the world.

Wait…that's not right. I have so much to worry about. Lissa. Sydney. Dimitri. Where we go next. Where Isaiah and Elena are. What they want. Falling on the floor in pain…

I sat up in bed, the covers that were pulled up to my chin now pooled in my lap. I was covered in sweat, and my heart was beating a little too fast for my liking. When I looked around the room, the sun was starting to show through the curtains, giving off a bright orange hue. Everything was where it should be. Except Dimitri missing from his bed.

I panicked a little, looking around the room again. Then I saw him. He was sitting in the corner of the room in a chair. What caught me by surprise was he was fast asleep. I thought me stirring in bed would wake him, what with fact that he's the top Guardian that never sleeps and can last through anything.

Apparently not today. Today, he was tired and needed sleep.

As I pulled my legs over the bed, I realized one very critical detail: I was still half naked!

I had the urge to cover up, but figured he was asleep and it didn't really matter anyway; he's seen me naked before. I stood from the bed and stretched, feeling how tight my muscles were brought back all that happened last night. I placed my hand on my head where it felt like my hair had been ripped out.

What was that last night?

Why did Lissa trying to communicate with me hurt so badly?

Did she know she was doing that to me?

When was this hell going to be over with?

I shook away all thoughts of that. Of course she didn't know that was happening. There's no way she would do something like that intentionally. I'm not even sure how that happened, but I'm also not sure I wanted to know.

I looked over at Dimitri's sleeping form. He looked peaceful, but there was a scowl in his expression. Maybe he was having a bad dream like I was. I figured it wouldn't hurt to find out and walked across the room soundlessly.

I had a thought of just sitting on his lap to wake him up, but I'm not sure how well – or productive – that would pan out. My next thought was to give him a kiss, but that wasn't a great idea either; leaning over him to kiss his lips in a pair of lacey black and grey panties and a matching bra. Yeah… not okay for a wake-up call like this. Then, finally, I settled for just shaking his shoulder. Yes, it was the not-so-Rose way of doing things, but we were under cover – so to speak – and it was best to keep it that way. For now.

"Dimitri," I said quietly – don't ask me why; I'm trying to _wake the guy_ and I _whispered_! – shaking his shoulder lightly.

I thought for sure his eyes would snap open and he'd be up and out of his chair, ready for some kind of attack or threat on his life. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see his eyes flutter open and squint at the light coming through the curtains. I noticed then that it was getting brighter outside.

He groaned. "What time is it?"

I glanced at my invisible watch on my wrist. "It is a…freckle past a hair." I put my hand son my hips, looking down at him expectedly. "Why? You got a hot date?"

His eyes trailed up to me rather than the clock on the night stand behind me. "No, I - …Uh..."

That sentenced stopped right when his eyes widened with surprise, some confusion, and the unmistakable lust. I tried to hide my smile, but I'm not sure I succeeded.

"Um…Roza. I think…" He gulped, snapping his eyes up to meet my gaze. "I think you need to get dressed. "We have to-"

I shifted my weight from my right to left foot as he talked. "Why would I want to do that? I'm comfortable just like this."

He got to his feet then, standing at his full 6'7" height, looking around the room for something. "No, you don't understand. We need to-"

I rolled my eyes. "You are such a party pooper."

He located what he was looking for: my bag of mangled, unclean clothes. But, being the perfect lady that I am, wouldn't let him. He looked frustrated, though chose to not look at me directly. "Rose, come on. We have to get ready."

"Why can't you look at me?" I challenged, completely ignoring his pleas to get moving.

He sighed. "Because someone is on their way to-"

"Shh!" I said, holding my hand up to stop him. (Let me point out that this it the third time I wouldn't let him finish a sentence.) "I hear something."

I tilted my ear toward the door like a dog. There were footsteps – at least three people – coming down the hallway, having already bypassed the clerk at the front desk. Judging by the urgency, I was guessing they were coming to this room, which is only the third door down the hall, so we really didn't have much time.

"There's someone coming," I stated bluntly.

He scoffed. "Yes, that's what I've been trying to tell you. We are supposed to have company this morning."

I looked down at myself and then back up at him, a sheepish smile on my face. "So…I should probably get dressed then, huh?"

He nodded, looking at me pointedly. "Yes, you should."

Okay. From the next the seconds, I will have made three mistakes.

Mistake number one: I snapped around on my heel and stumbled right into Dimitri's bed. (One of the fastest creatures to ever walk this earth and I nearly fall. Graceful, right?) Of course Dimitri followed behind me to make sure I was okay.

Mistake number two: In my hurry to get to my bed I didn't realize that Dimitri's boots were at my feet at the end of his bed. So, when I tried to turn around, I got my foot tangled and stared falling backwards. I'm not sure what possessed Dimitri to reach for me, but I only brought him down right on top of me. Though it was an unplanned fall, he still managed to somehow straddle my waist and support himself over my body.

Oh, it gets better…

Mistake number three: As we fell, I let a startled yelp escape past my lips, effectively attracting the attention of our visitors on the other side of the door.

"Rose? Is that you? What's going on?"

Hold on a second. Was that…?

Too late.

Abe flung the door open – Why in God's name don't any of the locks in this room actually work? – probably expecting to see danger somewhere. Instead, he found me half naked under a tall Russian, who was still supporting himself with his arms on either side of my head hovering only inches from my face. I can assure you that's probably not something a father wants to see his half-dead daughter doing.

Dimitri's eyes filled with something I had never seen there before: pure terror. As for me: my stomach dropped to my toes and I got that feeling of wanting to be somewhere else at that moment.

Abe's face turned red, anger flashing in his eyes. "Dimitri Belikov, what the _hell_ are you doing to my daughter?"

Oh. Shit.

**Hahaha! I told you you'd like it! Lol**

**Sorry it's so short, though. I just needed to get that off my chest before moving on. I was going to do all of this in Dimitri's POV but I feel too much like a broken record repeating everything I had written not 20 lines ago.**

**Seriously though. Do you like it? Was it as funny as I promised, or were some of you disappointed and though it could have been funnier? LET ME KNOW!**

**Until then, peace out, my fellow readers and/or writers!**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R **

**-Aly**


	16. Chapter 16

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again. **

**I am loving all of the comments you guys are giving me! I know I don't mention this every chapter, but when I read the comments and reviews, I lmao! The jokes and funny comments are more than enough to get me writing more and more, and I'm loving the feedback after each chapter. Even if you don't review, I see that you follow the story and that's just as great, because then I know you'll still be reading the next chapter when it's up. Thank you all so much! (:**

**So, anyway, I figured I should get back to what happened with Lissa, but we are going to find out "indirectly", if that makes sense. You'll see what I mean. **

**I was going to have Rose sneak off without Dimitri and take on Isaiah and Elena on her own, but found a better way for Rose to show everyone what she can really do. ;) I haven't decided which idea I actually like better, but this one happened to fit the situation with Lissa.**

**Okay, I'll stop delaying you. Here it is:**

**Rose's POV**

Oh. My. God. Most embarrassing night. Ever. Not to mention the scariest and worrying night of my life.

"Um…Dimitri?"

He glanced at me from the passenger seat. Yup, that's right. Dimitri's riding shot gun for once. (You'll find out why in just a minute.) "Yes, Roza?"

"Why is it that all of the stupid shit is happening to me? I mean, I met my father for the first time only two months ago, and suddenly he's catching me naked under a man like he was there all my life! It's almost unfair. I mean, I'm eighteen now. He technically can't tell me what to do."

He nodded briefly. "Though that may be true, it also shows how much he cares about you." He looked out the windshield ahead of him. "I told you about how I kicked my dad out when I thirteen. I've never known that kind of attention from a father because mine was never around. And when he was, he would only treat us like dirt, like we were nothing to him." He shook his head, obviously trying to wipe away the memories. Then he shrugged. "Maybe you have a chance to mend that bond."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and kept them on the road. "I don't think that was the way to do it, Comrade."

I thought since I'm dead and a supposed dead "Strigoi fiend" that I could get away with anything. I'm not talking robbing a bank or – God forbid – _killing_ someone or anything like that. But, you know, maybe getting to stay up past my bed time – Dimitri hasn't been letting me stay up past 10:00 – or…_getting away from my murderous father!_

Nope. Didn't happen. I know I got most of my looks and personality from him, but apparently he doesn't freeze up like I did when he walked in the door.

**[Flashback]**

_I opened my mouth to say something – anything to get us out of this one! But it was no use. I mean, I was caught like this before, thought that was by the Russian God currently leaning over my back at the academy, but this was completely different._

_My father showed barely any hesitation in approaching us and grabbing Dimitri by the collar of his shirt. As he did, Dimitri tried to scramble off of me and I tried to sit up and cover myself with anything that I could find. My father was actually able to push Dimitri to the opposite wall, holding him there to furiously glare at him. Even though they were almost the same height – Dimitri sporting an extra inch or two – my Russian God seemed to shrink under the infamous Zmey's gaze. _

"_Now, explain to me what is going on here," Abe commanded, poison dripping from his words._

_Dimitri still seemed frozen but managed to blub slightly and open his mouth to speak, but I found my voice before he did. _

"_D-Dad, stop!" I said, pulling the blanket higher on me and then climbing off the bed to stand right next to them. "It was a misunderstanding. I tried and landed on the bed and then he…" I paused, realizing that I wasn't making it better. "Ugh! Nothing was happening! Can we please just move on so you can explain why you're here?"_

_I'm not sure what made him falter? The fact that I called him 'Dad', or my death grip on the arm holding Dimitri against the wall. He knew I was stronger than him, and he knew I meant business. He looked from Dimitri than back to me, contemplating what to do. Then, he made a decision: he let go of Dimitri, but didn't step away at first, still glaring at him hard. _

"_I know you know what I can do. I've off killed men much longer than you have; I know how to make it look like an accident. I never want to see something like that again, Belikov. This may put a damper on our…understand of each other, but because you are protecting my daughter, I will hold back. Just remember that she and I may now have different views of you, Belikov." And with that, my father was out of Dimitri's face and looking at me like nothing had happened, his face friendly, but still meant business. _

_Dimitri on the other hand was completely stunned. I had never seen this man like this, never seen that fear in his eyes and stature; I wasn't sure what I could do to help him. So I sent an apologetic look his way. He snapped out of his fearful state and just shrugged, trying to play off that nothing had happened, but I could still see the fear behind that Guardian mask perfectly back in place. _

"_So, as for the reason I'm here, I called _him_" – he motioned angrily at Dimitri, who had pulled himself a few feet from the wall to stand somewhere behind me – "to tell him that I was coming to inform you of what is happening at Court myself. Because I knew how you would react."_

_He was looking right at me when he said that. Uh oh. This can't be good. _

_I just nodded, staying focused, ready for anything. "What is it?"_

_I felt Dimitri come slightly closer, clearly interested in the news as well. _

_Abe was all business now; there was no sign of holding back or hesitation in his demeanor. He was not his normal joking, sarcastic self, which meant this news was big. But I was ready. And I needed to know. _

"_Rose, I'm not sure how it happened, but someone broke in to Court."_

_My mouth fell open. Okay, so I wasn't ready for that one. "Are…are you sure?"_

"_How did they get past the wards?" I heard Dimitri ask from behind me. _

_Abe cut him a look that wasn't threatening, but it wasn't nice either. He nodded to me, and then answered Dimitri's question. "We believe they are using humans to use states to break the wards for them. I don't know how they managed to get past so many Guardians, but they made it all the way to Court."_

"_What happened?" I asked, completely engulfed in the information now. "How do you know it's humans helping them?"_

"_We know they are helping because only a silver stake from a Guardian is strong enough to break a ward. They didn't have to have muscles, necessarily, but they had to be strong willed in order to do something like this." He shook his head. "This is almost surreal."_

"_Did they escape?" Dimitri asked, probably trying to keep up the questioning because he sensed my own hesitation. I was still frozen in shock – I couldn't believe something like this was happening. _

"_It isn't exactly uncommon for us to see something like this happening, but it's still rare for them to get that close, that fast. They were in undetected, but all hell broke loose once they tried making their escape."_

_By not Dimitri braved standing right next to me, yet keeping a fair distance. He nodded to my father's information that seemed logical to him, but I wasn't making an sense of this. This wasn't supposed to happen. _

"_How long ago was this?"_

_Abe glanced at his watch. "It was about five hours ago."_

_Dimitri nodded. "What did they want?"_

_That's where he faltered. His posture may have been serious business before that question, but it all seemed to crumble with those four words. _

_My attention came back into full focus. I realized we had skipped over a very important question. If I wasn't already standing, I would have shot right to me feet, the realization hitting me so hard. "What about Lissa? Is Lissa okay?"_

_My father looked me straight in the eye, telling me everything I needed to know. He shook his head slowly in dismay. "I'm sorry Rose. I…I wanted to be the one to tell you." I saw the sadness in his eyes, and I think that's what gave away the news before he said what it actually was. "They took her. They took Lissa and managed an escape without a trail."_

**[End Flashback]**

After that, we fell into step of how to get her back, as well as where we were going to be hiding for the next week or so. Abe and Dimitri was content on keeping me out of the search for Lissa, but I convinced them to at least let me in on any plans they had, promising not to be rash. Do you see the loop whole here?

I managed to take that shower and dress in the cloths Abe brought for us. It was a casual army green tank top and a brown wind breaker jacket for when I'm in the sun. He was also smart to bring a pair of not-so-tight jeans that fit enough so I could move around and they wouldn't be falling off. He also managed so combat boots to complete the outfit. He may be a first time dad, but he knew what I needed to wear in case all hell broke loose.

Once Dimitri left the room to change into his own new clothes, I asked my father if he managed to bring the items I requested when we last talked. He nodded and said they were already in the car, hiding in the back so Dimitri wouldn't notice them right away.

Long story short, I had asked Abe if he could custom make me weapons to better defend myself. Yeah, I had my hand-to-hand combat skills that I was increasingly getting better at, but if I can't touch a silver stake, how was I going to kill off Strigoi effectively? We didn't go into detail about the subject because Dimitri came out of the bathroom fully dressed in his black t-shirt, dark-wash jeans, and boots of his own. (Let me say here that I was not staring, I was just admiring Abe's choice of dress, that's all.)

Abe left soon after, his Guardians tailing him as he walked out – I had completely forgotten they had been waiting patiently outside the door this whole time. I guess that means they were doing their jobs flawlessly.

So, not only did I experience the most…traumatizing night of my life, it was also my worst nightmare coming true. Lissa was kidnapped.

Abe filled us in on what the Guardian's say: a tall Strigoi man, with the Dragomir Queen unconscious in his arms, and a smaller Strigoi woman. I knew exactly who it was, and they were only trying to get my – or rather Dimitri's – attention, trying to lure us out. I'm not sure how they knew that we'd find out, but their plan worked, and they had my best friend and sister as a hostage. They could… No. I was not going to bring myself to think something like that. There was no way I was going to let that happen, not if I had something to say about it, and boy did I have a few thoughts on the matter.

"Rose?" I felt a gentle hand on my knee. I glanced over at Dimitri. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About Lissa," he guessed, reading my mind.

I sighed heavily. "I'm going to get her back, Dimitri. I don't care what it takes."

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. "Spoken like a true Guardian."

I felt pride swell up in my chest knowing he thought I was acting mature like the Guardian I always wanted to me. But what kind of Guardian lets the one they swore to protect fall under danger?

Reading my mind again, Dimitri squeezed my knee reassuringly. He guessed what I was thinking, and I realized then that he had come under the same situation once with this last charge, Ivan. He too had fallen under a distraction and it got Ivan killed. He was the only one who could know how I feel.

"It's my fault she's in this situation. She was trying to protect me, when it's my job to protect her. She's not supposed to risk her life and everything she has in order to keep me safe; it's supposed to be the other way around! I love her like she was my sister and I promised to protect her, with or without the Court's approval."

Dimitri nodded. "She knew what she was risking going into this; this was after all her idea." I was going to say something, but Dimitri cut me off before I could. "She wanted to protect you like you had done for her. This was a way to return the favor for all you've done for her. She wasn't thinking about what would happen to her because she wanted to make sure you lived to see her be an amazing queen and govern her race the way it was meant to be governed."

I looked at him in awe.

He shrugged. "Her words, not mine."

I sighed again. "But what happens now? How do we…?" I stopped mid-sentence, answering my own question in my head. "Wait…I know exactly how we can do that."

"Do what?"

I smiled, excited that I had thought of this and yet feeling stupid that it didn't occur to me before. "I can search for Lissa through the bond; I can lead us to her."

"How are you going to do that? I thought you could only communicate one way."

"That was the case as of last night," I said, making another turn toward our destination: Minnesota. Dimitri and Abe disagreed with me when I suggested it, but they leveled with me when I pointed out Isaiah and Elena wouldn't have gotten farther than that, and if they were really trying to lure me – Dimitri – out of hiding, then they would head toward our location, rather than farther away. I didn't take comfort in the fact that they knew where we were hiding that whole time, but I knew I was right and won that argument. Score one for Rose Hathaway's stubborn side.

I told him about my theory about Lissa trying to communicate with me last night, mentioning that I believe I can minimize the pain by letting her in, rather than fighting her off like I tried to do last time.

He nodded, finally giving me the go ahead. "Okay, but be careful. You are behind the wheel of a speeding a vehicle." I knew it was meant to be a serious notion, but I could hear the humor in his voice.

I smirked. "Don't worry so much, Comrade. I'm not up for killing us both just yet."

I kept my eyes on the road, but most of my focus and thought was in searching for Lissa. I reached out with my mind, looking for her like a homing beacon on a radar screen. It wasn't too long until I finally found her. How do I know? I got an instant headache. I felt the tug of her thoughts draw me in to her head.

_Rose! Is that you? Oh rose I'm so scared… The have me in a cellar somewhere. They knocked me out the whole way, I have no idea where I am._

I scrunched my face at the pain triggered by her worry and fear. "I know, Lissa, but you have to stay strong."

Dimitri's eye brows shot up in surprise. I guess he didn't expect me to be communicating out loud. For some reason, communicating like that dulled the pain by the slightest bit. Other than that gesture of shock, he stayed quiet, keeping one eye on me, and the other on the road ahead of us.

I could hear her sigh and take a deep breath. _Where are you? Are you safe?_

I almost laughed. Even facing the threat of death she was still thinking about my safety. I glanced at Dimitri. "We are on our way to you."

_No! Don't come here!_ The sheer level of her voice made me flinch, but it still wasn't as bad as before. Dimitri's reassuring grip on my knee tightened the slightest bit. _The Guardians at Court are probably looking for me. If they find you they'll—_

"Don't worry about that, Liss. Dimitri and I can handle that. We have a plan." Dimitri nodded, assuring me that he knew what I was referring to.

She sighed again, obviously realizing that she wasn't going to be talking me out of this one, though I'm surprised she didn't put up much of a fight. This communicating must be taking a lot out of her.

"Look, Lissa, as long as they don't move you, I can find you. I'll follow your thoughts like a beacon leading me to you. If you think they are going to relocate, let me know as soon as you can. But other than that, save your strength."

_Okay, Rose. Please be careful. _

I laughed half-heartedly this time. "You know me, Lissa. I always think things through."

_That's honestly what worries me…_

And then she was gone. She cut the communication from her end and the headache diminished greatly. There was still the presence of her worried thoughts, but that wasn't a problem for me.

Dimitri's hand never left my knee, and he was still watching me with slightly worried eyes. "Rose, are you okay?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. Nothing some food can't cure," I said was I pulled off the freeway.

He looked from the road to me, confusion clear in his face. "You're hungry?"

I shrugged, but my whole body was tense with the fight that I knew was sure to come. "Not really, but I can't chance being weak, not for this battle. And most certainly not when Lissa's life is on the line." I thought about the weapons waiting to me used in the back. I was pondering the idea of letting Dimitri in on that little secret and giving one to him to use. They were made so that I could silver and stake, kill, and/or defend without much difficulty. Oh, the perks of having a crazy, psychopath father.

He nodded. "Do you know where they are?" he asked, all business now.

I shook my head. "No, but like I said to Lissa, I can follow her thoughts. It's something I would do while you were sleeping at night. I was focus solely on her and let the feeling of reassurance calm me down and pass the time."

He didn't say anything until we pulled up to a McDonald's.

"Rose, I want you to be careful."

I gazed at him questioningly. "Going through the drive-thru?"

It was meant as a joke, but the seriousness vibrating off of him turned my smirk into a straight line as I pursed my lips. "No, I want you to be careful about what you do. I know you are keeping something from me, and I don't want you doing anything stupid and getting caught up in the 'spur of the moment', or anything like that."

I looked at him knowingly then said, "Comrade, you're ranting." I rolled down my window to talk through the speaker. "Besides, you should know by now not to baby me. I'm a big girl now, and I can handle myself."

A almost high pitched, girl voice came over the speaker. "Um, are you, like, ready to order?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Yes. I need a number two meal with a large strawberry and banana smoothie."

There was a moment of silence, and then: "Anything else?"

I looked at Dimitri expectantly. He leaned closer to the window – I swear he did it on purpose as pay back for my ranting comment – and I got a nice, mouthwatering whiff of his aftershave. I saw the smirk on the corner of his lips and wanted to smack it off of him. "I'd like a large coffee please. Black."

He leaned back in his seat; that smirk was barely there, but I could see it there on his lips. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the window, waiting for a total. Seconds passed and there wasn't one.

I just shrugged and pulled a twenty out of my pocket, figuring it had to be less than that.

I pulled up to the first window and – surprise, surprise! – the girl that took our order gawked at Dimitri in the passenger seat. At first she didn't do anything and just stared. Then she tried flirting with him, but I pulled away as soon as I got my change. I started grumbling nonsense as we pulled away from the window.

At this Dimitri laughed. "What is it now, Roza?"

I shot him a glare. "Do you even have to ask? Because I feel like that question was a very . Every girl we come across is hitting on you or just stares at you, and I don't like it."

He only shook his head in mock dismay, probably trying to say something along the lines of "I never would have thought you'd be jealous".

Pulling up to the second window wasn't bad – it was worse. The girl wasn't paying much attention at first and started to hand me our drinks when she got a look at him and – get this – she dropped them! She literally stopped her movement, stared openly past me and to my love in the next seat, and loosened her drip on our drinks, letting them collide with the ground and explode in a wet hot and cold mess. What really pissed me off is that my Coke actually managed to splash back up through the window a little and hit me. Once the second attempt succeeded and we had everything, I sped off without waiting for a thank you because I knew we'd be sitting there for God knows how long watching her attempt to get that sentence out.

Dimitri noticed my frustration, but chose not to approach it just yet. Maybe he finally figured out that I need some space when it comes to me and my anger. I was still learning about my own body, especially with the way it is now. I don't know what my reaction would be to pure anger, and I didn't want to chance testing it on Dimitri.

An hour later and we were closer to our destination. We were in the state, but we wanted a place a little more off grid, considering this Strigoi liked to stay in hiding as long as he could. I didn't tell Dimitri this, but I've been thinking about Isaiah's offer, to join him. Yes, I'm still aware that Isaiah thinks Dimitri is the hybrid-freak, but I thought maybe I would be some kind of double agent. I would tell Isaiah that I trusted him and work along-side him. Sure, there's the fact that I still wasn't sure if he really wanted me – or Dimitri – as an alley or to gain my – his – trust and kill me – him – when my – his – back is turned. (Was that sentence confusing to anyone else…?)

So far, that thought is reserved as a last resort.

I focused on Lissa's thoughts again and felt her presence was close. Very close.

"She's close," I said to Dimitri, though I'm sure he could read it in my face before I even said anything.

He only nodded. His face was completely blank, and I could tell he was working hard to keep any expression off of his face. He knew as well as I did that this could mean life or death.

We may be going in with a battle plan, but everything changes once you actually face what's waiting for you. This was going to be big, and I'm not going to lie, I was terrified. I wanted nothing more than to avoid this bastard Strigoi and his bitchy side-kick as all cost. But he had my best friend, and I was going to get her back, no matter what the cost, just like I promised Dimitri. And just like I promised myself and Lissa. She wasn't going to die because I was too weak. I'm stronger and faster than anything else in existence, assuming that the other Strigoi out there in the world can't move like me.

The tingling that alerted me that Lissa was near grew stronger with every passing second. We turned onto a dirt road that led toward a patch of words. So they were hiding in a cabin somewhere, laying low until help came for the future Queen of the Vampire race, just like they intended.

Just thinking about what could go down in the next few minutes made my whole body tense. I reached over without thinking and grabbed Dimitri's hand. He took mine in his without hesitation. It was such a natural thing that we didn't need to look at each other to know how we each felt. We just knew.

I swore to protect Lissa, but I also had to keep an eye on Dimitri. There's no telling what kind of hell is waiting there for us, and there's no telling how it will work out in the end. We were going into this knowing all of the risks – you could call it an occupational hazard.

I squeezed his hand for reassurance, and he squeezed back, and that was all I needed. We turned onto an unpaved drive and a small cabin at the end of a pasture came into view.

Whatever was coming, I was ready.

**Sorry this update took so long. Got caught up in work again. **

**Anyway, I really want to know what you thought about this one. Was it suspenseful enough? I was trying to get you ready for the fight scene coming up in the next chapter, or at least I'm hoping it's the next chapter. The ending is still a question for me; I have ideas but don't know how exactly it will be done. So, to get some help that I require, THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL NOT BE PUT UP UNTILI I GET HELP WITH AN ENDING! Just so you know, lol. (:**

**Here's my ideas; and you can build off of them, hate them or love them. Just help me decide what I want to do:**

**Idea One – Lissa's trapped and helpless as all faith is put in Rose's speed and focus. Then Isaiah makes the wrong move and goes for Lissa's neck. Rose makes a quick move when Isaiah's fangs get too close to Lissa's jugular then Rose – or anyone – would like. Dimitri is busy with Elena and arrives too late yet again. What he finds is… (Not going to spoil the entire thing! Nice try though!)**

**Idea Two – Guardians from Court show up in time for the surprise of their lives: Rose is alive and Dimitri is fighting alongside her against a large group of Strigoi. They aren't sure what to do first, but they immediately jump at the closest Strigoi, and suddenly all odds are tipped in their favor. But then Eddie has to jump in to protect Rose from Mason, seeing as though Eddie's best friend is at Rose's throat and is about to get himself killed… **

**Idea Three - …Nope, just those.**

**So, yeah. I can't decide on one. Which is where the rest of you come in. I need help either making a decision, or having you come up with something better. And you really got to sell to me, because I would hate to like it the same as the others. That would just make it that much harder to get this thing done. **

**Anyway, you all know the drill. **

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	17. Chapter 17

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**So, with the help of all your ideas and ShantelleBelikova's assistance in writing it, the chapter is up and running! (In a matter of speaking.) I'm excited about this one because I know you guys like the action packed, rather than the back to back dialogue between characters. **

**This chapter will also mark the start of finishing the story. If that didn't make any sense what-so-ever, let me rephrase it for you: THE STORY IS COMING TO AN END! Yeah, that's right! The question 'What Now?' will be answered with 'The End'.**

**Let me say how surprised I am that this story flourished as much as it did. I never would have thought 'What If?' was going to be that much of a hit, and look at both stories now! I'm still getting reviews for 'What If?' and I've enjoyed reading all of the comments and praises you guys gave throughout "What Now?". It's almost bittersweet to start calling it quits, but you know what they say: "All good things must come to an end."**

**I think this chapter will be the best one so far. It isn't the last, so don't freak out just yet, but its good. I took a lot of your ideas and put them into this chapter – as well as the next few chapters.**

**Rose's POV**

Believe it or not I was scared out of my mind. Even with Dimitri by me, I couldn't think. I honestly couldn't do anything. Okay, I lied. I had one thing on my mind, and that was that I had to save Lissa. Nothing else mattered right now. She was and always will be the one I have to protect.

Before we got out of the car Dimitri had called Abe to let him know where we were located. My hope was that he could keep the other Guardians stalled long enough for us to save Lissa and make Dimitri a war-hero. Okay, so he doesn't exactly know about that part of the plan where he goes back to court and I stay behind, but, you know. Some things are better left unsaid. He made a few more calls and eventually shut his phone all together. There were three phone calls from the time we started up the drive till we were nearly there, each of them lasting only seconds.

As he was talking, my Russian boyfriend squeezed my hand. I think it was trying to reassure himself as much as me. I could look deep into those brown eyes and see he was actually scared. That stoic man was showing emotions I had never seen in him, and I was hoping to never see again.

I was counting down the seconds until we got to the little cabin, pulling up a couple of yards again. I opened my mind to Lissa and followed her thoughts; she was definitely here, seeing as though it didn't hurt to let her mind connect to mine.

I flung the door open and flashed to the trunk, opening it to get the bag Abe left for me.

Dimitri approached me, arriving just as I hid the last of the new "toys" Abe left for me within my jacket.

The first weapon – one on each of my hips – was a stake, but at the same time it wasn't. It was longer and much skinnier. But it was about two feet long and had a point that looked sharper than a needle. The end closer to my hand was thicker and only two inches in diameter. The handle that molded perfectly to the shape of my hand was wrapped in what looked like some kind of leather, keeping the silver from touching me. Thanks God for that one.

The next weapon was…well, it was a six inch needle. Each side was sharp and pointy, the middle obviously thicker. And, of course, it was made of silver. They looked like something you'd see in a horror movie; like it was some kind of torture device. Thank god all of this fit in my jacket. Obviously except the…stakes?

There was also a gun, which I concealed under the waist band of my pants. Well, hot damn. The old man really does have connections. Although I can seriously envision him just taking one from one of his own Guardians…

Then with all of this gear, was it going to be enough? Could we defeat them and take on whatever lurked nearby? My anxiety kicked in, and my control started to slip. I guess communicating with Lissa drained my control, no matter how much food and sleep I get.

The Russian God standing before me arched a brow. (Was I seriously the only one who couldn't do that?!) He knew as well as I did that whoever was in the house could hear us without a doubt, so the silent question he was communicating to me came in clear: "What's all that?"

Crap. He must have seen it after all.

I shrugged.

Then I heard a scream erupt through the air, and I'm sure Dimitri heard it too.

Thank goodness for all the running Dimitri had told me to do. He had been right on several occasions about needing to just run.

I ran those few strides needed to get to the house, Dimitri close behind. But we didn't get far. Before I could make it to the porch, there were Strigoi approaching. It felt like they were right there, right in front of me. I could feel their presence like they were all breathing down my neck. In all reality, they were still another mile or so away from here.

I stopped mid-stride, then it was like reality caught up to me, even Dimitri. I looked out into the tree line, completely dazed. I can't believe they were what I was feeling all long.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around for whatever I saw seeing, everything about him on high alert. "What is it Rose?"

This wasn't just something bad; it was something that could get us all killed – or worse.

Suddenly there was another scream, and I knew it was Lissa. Without another thought – Lissa in danger clearing my mind of anything else – I burst through the door, not letting the wood stand between me and my best friend.

I was on high alert and looked around the little cabin. It was simple but eloquent. I continued to stay on my guard but with being what I am now, I felt them before Dimitri even seen them.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a shrill voice came from around the corner in the kitchen. I reached for my new weapon on my hip, but stopped short when I saw who he had with him.

"Lissa!"

She was clawing hard at his hand, which was wrapped firmly around her neck. "Rose…!" She choked, probably hardly able to breath.

I scowled and glared at Isaiah in every way I could. "You let her go. _Now._" My voice was almost unrecognizable even to me, but it showed just how pissed off I was, and how much neither him nor his side kick, Elena, should make the wrong move.

He laughed. He actually _laughed at me_. "You have no power over me, child." I glared harder at that comment – I swear he said it just to piss me off more. He must have a death wish. "You are young so let me be the one to give you a lesson: you cannot win, not with your short experience in life. The only one with a chance is your companion there." He inclined his head toward Dimitri, who I barely registered was there until now. I glanced at him, and he tore his eyes from Elena for a moment to catch my eyes before replacing them.

"You are nothing compared to some of us here, and you will not leave here alive," Isaiah continued. "I don't know you're purpose here, half-breed, but there is no room left for you here." Clearly his offer to Dimitri about joining him hadn't quite fallen through. "You will die by my hand, weather that was the way intended, or fate has a way of blessing and torturing only those who deserve it."

That was the last straw. I couldn't take his taunting anymore. I was ending this charade. Now.

He had a hold of my best friends' neck and he was too close to her jugular for my liking. I had an advantage here; I was a hybrid and although Isaiah knew one of us was half Strigoi, what he didn't count on is it being the woman instead of the man. Talk about sexist.

I had inhuman skills and strength beyond measure. So, I used that to my advantage. Completely forgetting about those weapons just in reach, I hauled ass and lunged at him. All it took was his surprise and a swing of my arm to knock him away from Lissa. The thing that even I wasn't counting on was him flying across the house, colliding with the wall.

"Isaiah!" Elena screamed, her voice piercing my ears. There was something there, something that showed…she actually cared about him.

I ignored her, letting Dimitri take her on. She was so focused on him she didn't see me run to Lissa, catching her before she hit the floor from pure fear and exhaustion.

"Rose!" She threw her arms around me, hugging me tight in her death grip.

Keeping in mind of my own super strength, I held her close, feeling just how fragile she really was. "Liss. I'm so glad you are okay. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner."

I heard her voice quiver as she spoke. "Just the fact that you are alive is enough for me." Her grip tightened around me.

"Rose!" Dimitri's voice alerted me that we weren't alone, as well as the fact that Elena had retreated to Isaiah, who was now getting back on his feet. While they were both distracted, Dimitri came closer, giving Lissa a once over to make sure she was okay. Satisfied, he turned to me and looked me in the eye. "Rose, there's something you need to know. Abe said the Guardians were already on their way. They could be here any minute."

"And they have no idea what they're walking into," I muttered, forcing Lissa behind me.

"What do you mean?" Lissa asked, fear ringing clear in her voice.

I reached for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Lissa, just promise me no matter what happens, the both of you will run when I say."

Dimitri looked over at me like I had just slapped him in the face. "No way. I'm not leaving you behind, Rose. There's no way."

Lissa nodded, still clutching my hand for dear life. "Yeah. We can't leave you here alone, Rose. You couldn't handle this on your own."

My temper was still flared high, and she said just the right thing to finally make me snap. I turned to her faster than she could register. "You don't know what I've been through to get to where I am now. I have control of who I am and I know what I need to do: protect you no matter what. You are important, not only to me, but to our race. And to Christian and our friends. You are the world to me and I will not let either of you die, not here and not while I'm alive. Do you understand?"

She was too shocked to answer; they both were. She just stared at me. I guess I might as well have slapped her in the face. But it was necessary. She needed to know that I knew her secret.

"I can't believe it; you're the hybrid?" We all turned to Isaiah. "How could I not have seen it before?" He was talk to me, but I was still seeing red. I could feel that so called "control" I was just talking about slip little by little. And it wasn't just my anger that was slipping, it was that power over my thirst, as well.

"No matter; you all still make me sick, talking about how you care for someone, and yet you will throw your own life away." By now Isaiah was making his way over to us, and with each step I grew more and more tense.

I got chance to glance at Elena, and she looked like she was betrayed. It was obvious to me that even for a heartless beast, she cared for him. And it was clear he felt nothing at all for her. She was dust in the wind, utterly useless in his eyes.

"Let's end this," Isaiah stated, tensing his body and ready to move.

I nodded, crouching to do the same. "Agreed."

"Rose," Dimitri warned, "don't-" but it was too late, I had already launched myself at him.

This was it, the war has begun.

**Dimitri's POV**

Rose launched at Isaiah, and I knew it was time for me to act; it was time to put her plan into action. Rose would have never launched into something like this without a plan. I didn't like it, but I knew Lissa came first, and I knew Rose would never forgive me if I was the one to let her die. It was up to me to take Lissa away from the heat of battle, and I couldn't fail her.

I grabbed Lissa around the waist and literally hauled her out the door, all the while her screaming Rose's name and for me to let her go. The sun was down which meant two things: one, the guardians should be here soon, and two, whatever was lurking in the forest around us was bound to come out from their hiding place.

Lissa's punches and struggling did nothing in her favor; eventually she was just too tired to fight anymore. I let her stand and looked her in the eye. "Rose made a promise and she has keep it. And I will keep mine."

She shook her head, tears pricking the ends of her eyes. "You don't understand, she's going to get herself killed. Keeping her promise to keep me safe will fix nothing! We're just going to lose her again!"

I softened my gaze, still holding her eyes with my own. "I also made a promise to protect her, as if _she_ were _you_."

Lissa looked taken aback, but she nodded slowly, as if understanding what I was saying.

Then, there were headlights flashing and six black SUV cars storming up the drive.

They were here.

I took her hand and we ran, me dragging her from behind. "You're going to be okay, my Queen. They will take care of you."

She ignored me calling her 'queen', which I thought for sure she would correct me on. "But what about you, Dimitri? They'll think you were the one to kidnap me." She was frantic and I know she wanted to help me, but this wasn't how I was going to leave Rose. "And what will happen to Rose if they catch her?"

I couldn't answer her. That though had crossed my mind. But the thought of me never being trusted and never keeping that respect didn't matter right now, not when Rose is counting on me to do my job, and to do what we came here to do.

I wasn't surprised to see Alberta jump out of the vehicle and run toward us.

"Dimitri? Is that you?" She stopped a few feet away and approached me cautiously

I nodded, but didn't dwell on her worry and relief in seeing me alive. "Take Queen Lissa and get her out of here. She's in danger here."

Lissa actually pulled her wrist from mine and backed away. "No! I'm not leaving without Rose – mmph!" She tried, but it was too late. Our secret was out.

Alberta's gaze was on me again, but it wasn't concern that filled her eyes. "Rose…Rose Hathaway…is alive?"

I ignored the question. "I need to finish this inside otherwise Lissa's life will continue to be-"

"In danger?" a shrill voice finished; I didn't even notice she was behind me until she was right there. I swung with my stake and managed to knick her cheek, leaving a good sized gash. She jumped away, hissing from the pain. Sure enough it was Elena. She was here, which means she wasn't with Rose. Which could only mean…

"Rose," I whispered. What happened in there? But my focus came back quickly. _They come first._

I put myself in front of Lissa, two other Guardians not hesitating to do the same. Alberta had Liss by the shoulders and started pulling her away slowly, but Lissa was still fighting.

"Dimitri, what about Rose? She's still in there." I never turned to look at her, but I could feel her worry. And our feelings were neutral.

"I know," I said. The other Guardians backed away with Lissa while I stood my ground. I started pacing in a circle with Elena, keeping all of my focus on her. Rose will not die today, that was my promise both to Lissa and me. I will not fail today.

I pushed her back, swinging at her to force her toward the cabin. She dodged and ducked, but she could have known that I was stronger than that; this was child's play for both of us. This is where I get serious. I waited for my opening, waiting for her to let her guard down. She aimed a swing and my chest and I managed to snap my hand out and grab her wrist, using my body weight to throw her down. She thrashed and kicked but I finally pinned her, and I thought I had her. Until she forced my body to the left and sunk her fangs in my right arm.

"Ah!" I let out a cry of pain but pushed the feeling aside. I had to get past the pain to save Rose. She was next; I had to save her, too.

I pinned Elena's body under mine, her hissing filling my ears. She was strong, but I will always be stronger. I drove my stake into her heart. A straggled scream passed her lips but then there was nothing after that. I watched as the life drained from her eyes.

Seconds later, a man placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I spun around. "Adrian?" Sure enough he stood before me, his eyes focused on my rather than the dead body at my feet. "You shouldn't be here. You should be-"

"I came in case someone needed to be healed," he stated, cutting me off. "I knew Lissa would be in no condition, and I've been practicing." He glanced at my arm which was now heavily bleeding. It hurt a lot, but once again I push the thought of pain away.

I nodded, appreciating that he was trying to do his part. That protective side of me told me that it was wrong for him to be here; he was still a Moroi, one I needed to protect. But here, at this moment, it didn't matter. Because I knew he was here to protect Rose, too. I looked around and noticed Eddie was here with Mia, too. I didn't like that they would risk coming out here, but, then again, they are Rose's friends. I'm sure they would be just as stubborn as she is, and would refuse to hear my logic anyway.

"We need to get out of here," I said, motioning for them to move closer to the cars. One of them was already started up and heavily guarded – that's the one Lissa's in, safe and sound.

"We need to leave, now," one Guardian announced, looking from our group to the cars. I saw the fear there in his eyes. All he wanted was to get out of here with his live intact.

I glared at him, wondering who let him come if he was only going to be a nuisance. "No, there's no way we'd make it."

"What are you talking about? You killed the threat. Now that it's clear, we need to go." He turned to leave, but my adrenaline rush was ever present in my system and I grabbed his arm, forcing him back to me. I didn't realize I had snapped out my bad arm and winced, letting him go once her was facing me again. I had never resorted to forcing someone to turn to me, but with everything that happened today, it was like I wasn't myself.

"No, there's no way we would make it out alive." I gestured to the forest around us. "Look around; they're everywhere. And if you were as focused on your surroundings as much as you are on saving yourself, you would have noticed earlier!" I sighed, not liking how my voice sounded. "If you were to run now, they would no doubt follow you to Court. And then what? They would take the Queen and probably kill her. If we don't have a Queen, then we are dead. She is what we need because without her we don't have a structure, if we don't have that, there's no winning in our favor. The Strigoi will pick us off one by one and we will soon cease to exist." They were silent at first, but soon started to come back to life.

Alberta started barking out orders, telling some Guardians to take the front lines, while others formed a perimeter around the SUV Lissa was in.

I looked back at the house, waiting and watching for something to happen. _Rose, where are you?_

**Had to end it there with a cliff hanger. If I had continued, this chapter would have been way too long, and then there'd be nothing for the next one. Can't have that, now can we?**

**Anyway, what did you think? Honestly. I thought it was good, but I need to know from you.**

**So, here's the deal. I have two endings in mind for this story. One that has a twist, and one that seems pretty straight forward. I'm not sure if you even understand where I'm going with that, but you will see. I think I'll end with the first one, and then once everything is said and done, I'll let you tell me what you think: keep the ending, or post the alternate ending? Stay tuned to find out… (:**

**So, I need to give a huge shout out and thanks to ShantelleBelikova for helping come up with this chapter as well as ideas for the next one. She came up with the ideas and I loved them, and I'm sure you liked it too.**

**Well, you know the drill.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	18. Chapter 18

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Just so you all know, the chapter after this one will be the last one. I think. Maybe… So, savor the last couple of chapters, because there won't be any more of this 'series'. Unless I do some kind of epilogue. But no promises.**

**I'm so sure if you are going to like ending, but please don't murder me when you see it. It took me a while to come up with a suitable way to end the chapter, and this is the only thing I could think of! Lol**

**So, it will probably be in Dimitri's POV for the remainder of the story, that way I don't have to switch from Rose to Dimitri and back again, thereby confusing the hell out of both you guys and myself. I personally like the way this will end, considering the small twist and surprise there will be waiting for you… In the next chapter. :P**

**So, let me know what you think! **

**Here it is:**

**Dimitri's POV**

Lissa was safe. In those first moments that was all that mattered, that the ruler of our race was alive. Now, as Guardians, we all had another job: keeping her safe and away from harm. No one could have predicted that this was going to be the outcome of Lissa's kidnapping; no one would have thought that Isaiah would contact this many Strigoi to kill our Queen. The mere thought of Lissa's death brought a shiver down my spine. That was never going to happen, not while I'm alive.

As the Guardian's prepared their positions around the SUVs, literally making a circle of cars around the one Lissa was in, I thought about what Rose had said back in the cabin: 'You are the world to me and I will not let either of you die, not here and not while I'm alive.'

What did she mean by that?

Was she talking to Lissa alone, or did she mean both Lissa and I?

Why does it feel like I'm missing something, like there's still something I don't know?

"Guardian Belikov!" I turned to see the man that was guarding Rose that night at court. I nodded to him as a greeting. He continued: "When I heard that the Queen was kidnapped I demanded that I be a part of the rescue team. I just knew you'd find your way to her. And I wanted the honor and privilege to work side-by-side with you."

I stared at him, not sure what to say. Here I was, somehow alive from that fall from the plane, and this man wanted the honor of fighting alongside me?

"I…appreciate the offer, but I can't ask you to do that."

He shook his head, a smile on his face. He didn't even seem surprised by my rejection. "Guardian Castle said you would say something like, but I wanted you to know that I'll do my part to keep the Queen safe, because I know you will do the same." And with that he walked away to talk to Alberta.

If that wasn't a life lesson speech, than I don't know what is. I was always the one giving life lesson – or as Rose called them, 'Zen lessons' – and here I was being lectured about doing my job. Oh, the irony.

Because of my handicap, I wasn't put on the front lines. Instead, I was on watch duty, along with Eddie and, to my surprise, Mason. We were posted around Lissa's vehicle, where the other Moroi were as well. Alberta was standing guard on my right, staying alert. I'm sure Adrian was inside trying to keep Lissa and Mia calm inside, but I'm sure they weren't going to stay that way for very long. That left at least twenty Guardians on the front lines, waiting and watching for the first sign of a Strigoi coming. All of this waiting felt like hours, when in reality it has been only five minutes that I left Rose alone in that cabin with Isaiah. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that I had just made the biggest mistake of my life by leaving her alone in there.

"Here they came!" one Guardian called from my left.

"They're over here, too!" yelled another from my left.

"There are only three so far," Eddies pointed out, keeping is eyes out at the tree line.

"They will not attack all at once!" I announced, trying to gather the attention of my fellow Guardians. "They knew battle strategy; they will sacrifice one of their own until you are tired and then attack, so watch each other's back and never let your guard down!" It sounded more like a pep talk, but it was important information they would need in order for some of us to make it out alive.

I watched as hell broke loose.

Guardian after Guardian ran out to meet a Strigoi half way; some made it out of their first battle to take on another, while a few others did not. It was complete bloodshed, and I was disgusted with the sight. I wasn't used to being put on the bench when it came to fighting, not like this. I was always sent out first, taking out as many as I could before moving on to the next. This time, thanks to my wound, I had to sit on the side-lines. It was humiliating.

One of the SUV headlights was pointed toward the cabin, laminating part of the building. I'm sure I'm the only one that saw it, but a figure stumbled almost un-noticeably toward the tree line. I don't know if it was Rose or Isaiah, but it didn't matter. I was going to find out myself.

I looked around for—there he is!

I grabbed the earlier guard by the shoulder, probably surprising him. "I need you to take my place on watch."

He looked startled by my words, rather than the fact that I wanted to be on the front lines. "Um…I told Alberta that I would-"

"That doesn't matter. You have to keep the Queen safe; I'm counting on you." Without saying anything else, I pushed – more like shoved – the guy toward where I had been standing. Then I did the only thing I could think to do: I tore off into the heat of battle.

"Belikov! Get back here!" I heard Alberta's calls, but I ignored her. I had to get to the tree line.

There was only on Strigoi that managed to catch me, and he must have been recently turned, because he had not battle smarts what so ever. He left his heart wide open for me to stake in a heartbeat. (Bad pun.) There wasn't anything else slowing my down, except the blood pouring from my open wrapped wound. The pain was much greater the more I moved, but it felt as though the pain was far off, like something was trying to hurt me from a distance. It was hard to explain, but it didn't matter. I had to reach the trees and get to whoever went into the forest.

Finally, I broke through the trees but never stopped running. I tore off to where I saw that figure enter the woods, all the while praying that it was Rose, and that she was alive. My lungs burned, which was odd because I hadn't been running that long. Damn. This blood loss was slowing me down.

Seconds felt like hours, but finally, I heard something. It was a cry of frustration. When I ran off away from the cars, I headed right toward the cabin and into the woods behind it. I had circled around figuring whoever it was would head toward the fight. The sound I heard was a cry of frustration, and it was close up ahead. I kept all my senses on high alert as I drew closer. It came from the tree line where the first Strigoi was seen coming out of the tree, and where the battle with the Guardians was taking place, but still concealed in the woods.

I dropped low behind some bushes, trying to figure out if it was Rose that had run off. The sight before told me that I had my answer.

There were four Strigoi, each of them gathered around the one figure. He or she crouched low, ready to pounce on whoever tried attacking first. The weapon in this person's hand was strange looking, but it was something I recognized: Rose's weapon from earlier.

It was my Roza, and she was okay.

"Come on, girly," one Strigoi taunted, and I know full well how much Rose hates to be taunted. "We just want to play." I noticed another one behind Rose tried moving closer, not making a sound as he moved.

She scuffed, gripping her specially designed stake tighter in her hand. "I'm not here to play. I'm here to kill."

She launched herself, not at the one she was directing her words to, but the one that tried sneaking up for an attack from behind. I had tried that during our training; I wound up with my back side on the mat and a headache for the next hour. No one can sneak up on Rose.

Apparently not even me.

Once she finished them off, each of them getting the small, slicker stake through the heart, she stood and turned right to me, instantly seeing me from my hiding place.

"You should know by now, Comrade, that I hate surprises." I couldn't tell if she was happy or sad, but it looked like a well-blended mixture of both. She came closer, but I remembered my arm and stood to my full height quickly. I moved a little too fast and wound up almost falling into the tree that I hadn't realized was on my left.

"Wait, Rose. I'm bleeding."

She chuckled. And I couldn't figure out what was so funny. The last time she got a whiff of my blood she freaked out and ran. And that was only a little bit of blood. God knows what would happen if she smelled the amount of blood on my arm.

"I know you, Comrade. I can smell it on you." Her smile disappeared and she turned serious. "You're hurt bad, aren't you?"

I kept my guard up, but relaxed. A little. "No, it's not life threatening."

She shrugged almost idly, like she was expecting that answer. "If you insist." She studied me for a minute and then said, "Is Lissa okay?"

I nodded. "She's safe. For now."

She nodded, too, looking like she was ready to fight all over again. "We need to get back there."

"What if they see you? The Guardians will kill you on sight if they get the chance."

She scuffed. "Please. That's what we've been training for, remember? We've been turning my skills into harmless defense maneuvers. If they do manage to get a hold on me, I'll simply get away." She jerked her thumb toward the general direction of the battle raging nearby. "Besides, I don't think they'll know what to do in the amount of confusion going on."

"You have a point."

She looked sad suddenly. "Dimitri, there's…something I need to tell you."

Knowing she wasn't going to be able to just blurt it out, I nodded, urging her to tell me.

She sighed, putting her hand over her heart. "I know…this is going to sound lame, but…I think I found out who I really am. I finally know my place here, and it's something I never would have expected." She paused, looking up from the ground at me. "I…I drink Strigoi blood."

I froze, completely locking up my body. She was right: that's something I would have never expected, not even in the kind of world we live in. "You…you feed on…Strigoi blood…?" I asked, making sure that I heard her right.

She nodded sheepishly. "When I said your blood was intoxicating, it was true, it smelled…nice. But his blood… It was…it smelled…delicious." She shrugged. "Trust me when I say there is a very big difference between the words."

I studied her for a moment. She was so different now. At the beginning of our trip, she was skeptical about the whole idea of going out on our own. Now, she was fully confident about possibly fighting the people she once fought alongside. Even her posture was strong and confident behind the laid back look about her. She was a new woman; a new kind of breed.

Suddenly, her head snapped up and she did a quick 360 turn, listening to her surroundings I'm guessing. I didn't say anything, knowing that she would eventually tell me herself, and I didn't want to interfere with her hearing.

"They need us." She reached out for me, and I barely had the strength or energy to ask what she meant. "We need to go."

Because all of my weight was supported by the tree, I wasn't prepared for the weight I would feel on my legs when she peeled me away from the tree. I tried, standing, I really did, but with the amount of blood I lost, it was too much, and I stumbled forward. Rose of course caught me, kind of awkwardly supporting my weight. "Dimitri, you're weak."

Okay, that was a blunt statement.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately after. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying you don't have a lot of strength, not that you are weak in general. I didn't mean to-"

"Roza, it's okay. I knew what you meant." I flashed her a smile, which relaxed her.

"You can't fight like this; let me take you to the cars."

I shook my head. "No, just leave me at the tree line and you go on ahead. I'll follow you out."

She raised tried raising one of her brows, but it didn't turn out right. "So, what you're saying is, you want me to go out before you? Like, take the lead in this fight?"

I chuckled. "Why is that so surprising? You can handle this one."

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, you're usually the one that makes me wait for 'when it's safe' or 'when you've checked it out first'." She used air quotes with one of her hands, the other wrapped around my back and keeping me upright.

I smiled one of my rare sincere smiles. "You couldn't always be my apprentice, Roza. I knew it was only a matter of time before you would eventually surpass me in you skill level."

She smiled again, and it made my world that much brighter, and actually encouraged me to stand straighter and fight harder to walk on my own.

I motioned for the direction of the meadow, my face serious now. "Go. We can't keep our comrades waiting too long."

She nodded, her face serious as well. She released me from her hold and made sure I was steady on my feet. Once she was sure I wasn't going to fall over and land on my back side, she was gone; she disappeared into the trees and flashed somewhere else.

I may not be able to match her speed, but her eyes could keep up with her movement, so when she - as Rose herself likes to call it – flashed from Strigoi to Strigoi, killing off as many of them as she could, she easily avoided any kind of contact with the Guardians. She would come right up behind the Strigoi of her choosing, take the creature by surprise and then stake it. She was doing a good job of keeping in mind that there was Guardian on the other side of that Strigoi and was careful to not drive the stake all the way through its body. The Guardians looked confused and surprised; it even stalled them in their movement to go to their next target. None of them seemed sure of how to handle what had just happened.

By time Rose had dealt with the first two Strigoi and moved on, I made a mad dash for the cars, hoping that if a Strigoi did come at me, it wouldn't be fore behind. Even a bad-ass Guardian like myself, who has had plenty your years' experience under his belt, can admit when he's met his limits.

I wasn't running at top speed, but I was running as hard and fast as I could. I had my stake in my good hand, while I kept the wounded one clutched tightly to my chest.

"There he is!" I heard Eddie call.

As I looked out I could see him hand out stretched, pointing right at me, and Alberta banking out orders to aid me in my return to them. I wanted to protest, but I knew they would follow her orders no matter what I said.

As I looked around, I noticed there were quite a few stunned looking Guardians, who's eyes had most likely fallen victim to Rose's speed. She was working hard to keep everyone safe, and I knew she had to be approaching her limit by now; even for her this was a lot of work. Her flashing usually took a lot out of her in our training together. Then I remembered what she had said earlier: _"I…I drink Strigoi blood."_

Moroi blood to any Strigoi was like gold. But to Rose, it was revolting; she had told me that the smell for a royal's blood was especially gross. No one knew why, but Rose was not attracted to the scent at all. And now I've come to find out that she's attracted to blood that of a Strigoi. It almost seemed impossible, but then again, she is doing the impossible.

Rose Hathaway is the only being on this Earth capable of killing off so many Strigoi, making her their natural enemy.

And I was still very much in love with her.

On Guardian finally reached me, and by then I was drenched in my own sweat having pushed myself so hard. That's when I realized it was that Mason kid. Lissa had mentioned at one point that he was completely against helping Rose, but she thought he would change his mind. I think she was wrong.

"Guardian Belikov. Let's get you back to the convoy."

I slowed to a stop when he reached me, panting slightly. "You should stay with the defenses; there's no telling what they are going to-"

"Behind you!" he called, but didn't give me time to react. Instead he lunged right past me, nearly knocking me over in the process, and went in for the kill. At first I didn't think anything of it and readied myself to help him if and when I could, except there was one problem: it was Rose he was attacking.

She looked surprised that it was him, but nonetheless tried to avoid him all the same. "Mason, stop. I'm not your enemy."

But he wasn't listening. "Rose, you used to be one of my friends. But I won't let you suffer any longer." He made another lunge and came dangerously close to her heart.

I remembered that Mason had some kind of one sided view about Rose. He was so sure that she was 100% Strigoi that he vowed to end her suffering when the time came. I never would have thought that his plan to 'avenge' her would fall through because our plan of escaping and returning wasn't supposed to end like this.

"Dimitri, stay there," Rose urged me, probably figuring that I was about to jump in and stop the adrenaline raged idiot from attacking her. She knew me well.

"Mason, I'm not what you think I am; I'm not like the Strigoi." Right now they were circling each other, creating what looked like a dance that was never going to have any happy ending. "You don't know what I can do." Her gaze flickered from me to him a few times, like she was afraid that he would turn on me, too.

"I know exactly what you are capable of!" His eyes were hard and his voice was rough. I could hear how sad and furious his voice sounded all at the same time. "You are nothing but a killer! You hunt us down and kill us off one by one and feed on the Moroi, the people you swore you'd protect. You put your life into being a Guardian, Rose! You have to remember that." He sounded desperate now, like he suddenly sympathized for her.

"I do remember all of that, Mason." She wasn't making any kind of move for her weapons, but she looked like she was at a loss is to what step to take next. "I remember everything that happened back at the Academy. I remember Mia, Camille, Eddie… I met Adrian when Tatiana stepped down from power. I used to get into all kinds of trouble back then, and you could say I still do." I almost felt the urge to roll my eyes there. She was so right about still getting into trouble. "I still have my humanity; I'm still me. I'm just…in a different body."

I took a look around to see that all of the Strigoi had backed off; they were actually retreating toward the woods. I saw a few linger at the tree line. They could have figured out by now that it was Rose herself attacking them; seeing a Guardian attacking her must have confused them, and it appeared as though they were waiting to see the outcome of the current conflict.

I also took into account that my strength was draining quickly, and if something did happen, I'm not sure I could separate them, let alone get to them in time.

Mason was contemplating whether to believe her or not, but his next move was clear on what he decided. "You don't belong here, Rose. It's time for you to go."

As he said that, she was watching me and only half focused, so mason took us both off guard when he lunged at her and landed a punch at her face. At first it seemed as though she had given up; she was letting him punch her. He landed blows on her face, arms chin, shoulders – everywhere. Everywhere except her stomach area, which was understandable because it was one of the weakest parts of the body when it comes to a hard hit like a full force punch.

She managed to dodge one blow to the head and backed away from him. They were both breathing heavy, but as I watched Rose, all of the bruises that were supposed to be littering her body were already starting to heal. The black eye she had received only moment before was already starting to fade, like it was water soaking into her skin. Her face was sweating and she was still crouched in a defensive position, ready for his next move. But Mason looked as tired as she was, so he opted for the usual technique for stalling: talking.

"Why? Why are you fighting me?" he asked, looking more frustrated than ever.

I'm not sure how much longer I could sit back and watch his anger grow. Slowly and silently, a started toward Mason, his back to me.

He continued scolding Rose. "Why won't you let me free you if you know what your life was like before this? If you know you won't be the same, then why won't you let me kill you and let you live in the next world?"

Rose saw me move and was pleading me with her eyes to stop, but I didn't and grew closer to the unstable Guardian.

"Because…because I can help you get out – I can help the queen get away from here safely. It's my fault she got into this mess, and it was me who got Dimitri into all of this. I never asked for any of this, but I've learned to accept that there is no going back. Victor and his daughter may have changed who I was, but I've learned to understand what I can do to help in this body, and what I need to do to survive."

Just as I was almost in arms reach of him, I saw Mason's shoulders tense. "I won't let you feed off of us, Rose. Never!" His whole body tensed and I reached for him. I managed to grab the hood on his sweatshirt her was wearing, but I didn't have the strength to jerk him back, only to stop him. Of course he was surprised and acted on instinct. He spun around, stake in hand and jerked toward me. But he realized too late that I wasn't the enemy he was expecting.

The only thing I felt was pain erupt through my abdomen as the silver stake slid God knows how deep into my body. I watched Mason's eyes widen with shock – I'm sure mine widened too – that I was the one that he just staked. Immediately he pulled back and more pain shot through me. Blood spurred everywhere, and I fell to my knees in front of him.

"No!" I heard Rose call, but couldn't see her anymore. My vision blurred and all of my other senses were fading along with it. I felt my whole body cave under the force of gravity and I started descending toward the ground. I couldn't feel the pain I was supposed to feel anymore, but I felt something soft and warm catch me before I hit the ground.

"Dimitri!" I think it was Rose's voice, but nothing was coherent to me anymore.

"Dimitri! Oh God, Rose that looks bad…" That sounded like Eddie and I suddenly wondered where Mason had gone.

"Dimitri… Dimitri, don't do this to me. Look at, Dimitri!" I tried to find her eyes, but I just couldn't focus long enough. Her fear stressed features came in and out of focus and it seemed as though the more I tried, them more blurry her and Eddie's looming faces got.

"Rose, they're coming back… We have to get him out of here…" Now their voices were fading, and my control to keep my eyes open was slipping farther and farther away.

"Dimitri… I love you… Please…" There was a softness pressed to my lips. Then I felt as though I was being lifted in the air.

"I'll take him, Rose… You're too tired."

Her voice must have been right in my ear, because the last few words she spoke were crystal clear. "You have to live through this, Comrade… I love you…and I will always be with you…"

I held on for as long as I could, but the darkness that looked in my vision finally took over my whole body…

And then there was nothing…

**Ha…Hahaha… Please don't kill me.**

**I know you guys hate cliff hangers, but I PORMISE the next one will make you happy. I finally figured out how I was going to end the chapter, so the next one will be the last. And I haven't decided 100% if I wanted to do a final epilogue chapter, but it's up to you guys. After the next chapter, let me know if it needs a final touch up chapter, or if I could leave it and finally call it quits.**

**You guys know the drill.**

**Thanks For Reading! R&R**

**-Aly**


	19. Chapter 19

**If she isn't a Dhampir, then does that mean she can still protect Lissa? Dimitri and Rose's friends bust her out of her cell. At first it's just Dimitri and Rose on the run; then they meet and Alchemist, and then three becomes a crowd. Dimitri tries to understand what Rose is going through, and is raging a battle of his own – against insanity. As Lissa toughs out trying to become Queen and prepare herself for the thrown, she, Adrian and Eddie try to keep Dimitri and Rose hidden by veering the Court off their trail. Find out what happens when Rose is being hunted by other Strigoi. Are they there to kill her, or recruit her? And will Mason join the ranks, or is he only looking for Rose to kill her himself? What are they going to do now that Rose and Dimitri are wanted criminals? A life on the run wasn't how Rose thought she'd spend her life, but she'd done it before, and she can do it again.**

**Okay, so, I will tell you no, Dimitri is alive and well in this chapter. Happy?! I saved him and me from the flames! (Haha! Get it. It's a pun…! Never mind…)**

**Anyway, I hope you guys like it, because it's the last one you get! Haha. JK. I really don't know what I'm doing after this one. But I want to wait for you read this before I decide. I want to post one more story based off of this one and call it an epilogue. But I want your opinion.**

**Let me know what you think after it's all said and done!**

**Here's the last chapter to 'What Now?':**

**Dimitri's POV**

Darkness.

Numbness.

Hazy.

That was all that I felt, all that I had in this place – wherever I was. I might have been floating; or I could have been falling. Nothing around me was real or secure. All I could think about was what happened before all of this. I was reaching for mason before he could attack… Who was he attacking? What were we doing in that meadow with that house? I could only remember bits and pieces of what happened. Wasn't Lissa in danger?

That last thought brought some part of my mind back to life and I fought to open my eyes. I remembered that I was supposed to be protecting Lissa; from what or who didn't matter, all I was worried about was keeping her safe.

I struggled to come back to reality, and at first all I could see was a blurred bright like, making me squeeze my eyes shut again.

"Dimitri?"

I heard a voice and used that as my anchor to pull myself back to reality.

"Dimitri…Can you hear me?"

A groan escaped my lips as I tried opening my eyes again, only to be met by the same blinding light. Finally, my eyes adjusted and I took in the scene before me.

I was laying on a bed in a hospital room. Everything was white, which only emphasized the brightness in the small room. I was a little surprised to see a few "Get Well Soon" cards on the table at my bedside, and I briefly wondered who they were from. That's when I remembered there was someone calling out to me before.

I took in the room one more time and saw none other than—

"My Queen…" I was shocked that Lissa was here alone, let alone that she was standing next to me, long term worry etched in her face.

She sighed in relief, but her expression changed to a playful annoyance. "I'm happy you finally woke up and all, but please don't address me like that. You know I don't like it."

I nodded, keeping that in that back of my mind.

We were silent for minute, until she broke the silence. "So, how do you feel?"

I moved my shoulder and it felt fine. That was a little strange, but I was more worried about the sharp pain that shot through my abdomen. I flinched a placed my hand over the spot that it hurt. Looking down a saw my chest was bare, but my stomach and back was wrapped in a white bandage.

I chanced a glance at Lissa. She was watching me with a far-away look in her eyes, waiting for me to answer.

"I…I'm fine. Just sore." I could tell she wasn't falling for it, but that far-away gaze never left her face. It was clear she was worried, but she was definitely thinking about something else.

"Lissa." She shook her head, like I was the one that woke her from a sleep. When her eyes met mine, she immediately looked away, focusing on the wall. What if something happened while I was out? "What is it? Are you hurt? Did something happen at Court?" I was instantly on alert, looking for something that would threaten her life.

I tried sitting up, but she wouldn't have it. She put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "No, you lay down. You are officially off duty, so there won't be any guarding for you for a while."

I reluctantly laid back down. "What have I missed? And how long have I been out?"

"You've been asleep for four days." She must have seen the shocked expression on my face, because she tried to change her answer. "Well, almost four days. It's been more like three and a half, not counting the amount of time you were in surgery."

Now my eyes widened. "Surgery?"

She nodded sadly. "You were under anesthesia for hours, and the doctor said they almost lost you twice. After they got you in the car, Adrian did a beautiful job healing you, but even he reached his limit. I used a bit of my own healing powers, but I was already really weak, and I didn't want to put more strain on my body."

As I thought about what she said, everything from that night started coming back to me in slow motion. "You were taken by Strigoi…" I narrowed my eyes slightly, remembering that it was that it was Mason's stake that put me in this hospital. "Are you sure you're not hurt? Mason wasn't too stable, if I'm remembering correctly."

She nodded. "Yeah, he was under a lot of pressure. What with his – and everyone else's – view on Strigoi, that being his first time actually going up against them, and then trying to 'save' Rose…" She tried off, realizing that she had said too much. She had let the same thing happen back in the field – let information about Rose slip to Alberta, but she couldn't save herself this time.

Rose.

"Where is Rose? Is she safe? The Guardians didn't go after her, did they?"

Her face dropped even more, but she tried to hide it. What was going on? What am I missing that's made Lissa frown so much?

"Rose…" She shook her head. "No, they didn't get her. They were too confused by the sparring she had with Mason to follow her. Everything about that day was…confusing."

"So she got away? Have you heard from her?"

She didn't answer.

"Lissa." I put serious into my voice, but kept it gentle. "You can tell me; you know you can trust me."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I know I can. It's just… Rose is…" She didn't finish; she couldn't. Her voice hitched and a sob got caught in her throat. She put her face in her hands, trying to hide the tears streaming down her face.

I gently pulled her hands away, and moved over slightly so she could sit on the bed with me. She complied, but she was still trying to calm tears. "Lissa, please, tell me what happened," I said gently and encouragingly. "I have to know."

I was mentally preparing myself for what was to come. If it was upsetting Lissa this much, it couldn't be good.

She calmed her sobs and wiped her eyes. "There…there were m-more Strigoi than the Guardians originally th-though, and after you passed out, Eddie carried to the convoy and put you in the car with Adrian, Mia and I. Adrian – Adrian started healing you first, but he had been working his magic all day, he could only do too much." She paused to take another deep breath, and I waited patiently for her to continue. "I…I couldn't hear what Eddie was yelling to Rose, but she started walking away from us, ignoring both Alberta and Eddie. Then, in seconds, I think half a dozen Strigoi ran at her. Not giving her any kind of exit or way to escape. I screamed through the bond for her to run, but she only insisted that we get out of there leaving me with one task in mind: to make sure that you lived through that day, and to…t-to never forget her." Her voice shook and more sobs racked through her body. "I-It wasn't just those…few Strigoi either. It was like…every time she killed those few, twice as many would…would show up. It was never ending, and I screamed for the Guardians to help her, for someone to _save her_. But, damn it, _no one moved_! I had to sit there and watch as we retreated from the scene as my best friend was slaughtered by God knows how many Strigoi!" She cried harder into her hands, not hiding her face this time.

As for me? I felt…dead. That blank numbness returned to my body – I couldn't feel anything.

Rose.

She can't be… She couldn't be…

"She…she made me swear that I would keep myself…and my baby safe."

It took me a second longer than it should have to realize what she said. "You…your baby…?"

A small smile broke through her face, the sudden happy news lightening her features as she sniffled lightly. "Yes. I'm pregnant." A hand automatically went to her stomach, there wasn't a noticeable bump yet. "I didn't even have to tell her – she must have already known somehow, like she could hear it in there…"

I wasn't sure it wanted to cry or smile. Rose died protecting the heir to the Dagomir line, as well as the Queen and her best I couldn't really do anything. I was frozen.

She put her hand on my bare shoulder, making me look up at her again because my gaze wondered to the wall, trying to hide my horror and pain. "Rose wanted me to tell you that she loved you, that she was happy to do this."

"Stop…" I said, but it came off as barely a whisper. I couldn't hear this, not now.

But she ignored my plea. "She wasn't just protecting me or our race. She was protecting next line in the Dragomir family. She risked her life to save you, too."

"Please, Lissa. Stop." I was almost begging, but she was determined to make me listen.

"Dimitri… I haven't said it myself yet…"

"No. Don't." My voice was firmer and it grew a little louder than I would have liked it to be around the queen herself, let alone anyone I deeply respect.

"I…I know you loved her as much as she loved you, so I need you to say it with me." My eyes connected with hers, and I dared her with my gaze to say it. But we all know how daring this Dragomir is.

"Rose is dead."

It was three words, but it felt like I was staked through the heart.

"_No!_" I all but screamed, right in her face no less. She flinched but she stood her ground as I continued to yell out of frustration and anger. "No, it's not possible. Rose isn't gone, she _can't_ be gone! Rose wouldn't just leave me like that, she's stronger than you think; she couldn't just die like that…!" I hadn't realized it was trashing to sit up until I left Lissa try pushing me down.

There was a knock on the door, but she told them she was fine and to stay outside the door.

For some reason I couldn't control myself. Something in my control slipped and I couldn't get it back. "Rose Hathaway is the strongest woman I have ever known. She went through hell and back to risk her life for _you_ and she disappears just like that? No. Never! She would _never _go down like that. She can't be gone!" I was ignoring the pain, ignoring Lissa's protests to as she struggled to keep me on the bed. If I wasn't hurt, I'm sure I would have been able to throw her off like she weighed nothing at all.

By this point, tears were streaming down my face. There was a heavy weight on my chest and I realized that Lissa's body was laying heavily on mine. Both of her hands were pressed on my shoulders as her body was twisted awkwardly to lay her upper body on mine as an attempt to keep me still. Her shoulders shook as she cried into my chest, not hiding the fact that this was hurting her as much as all of this was hurting me.

Slowly, she pulled away to look into my eyes. She hiccupped a sob and then said with a shaky voice, "Sh-She's gone, Dimitri… Rose i-is gone." Her hair was jostled lightly from my thrashing and I prayed that I hadn't just hurt the queen of our race in my angered state.

What kind of Guardian am I if I let my emotions get in the way? I shouldn't be one – I'm a failure.

I stared into her eyes. I saw the fear, the pain, the hatred, the sorrow, the hurt, the sadness, the anxiety – everything. None of this had to do with her amplified emotions due to her pregnancy. Lissa had lost her best friend, and I had lost the only woman I could ever love in this cruel, heartless, unforgiving world. We were both suffering from this, and we were both going to have to cope with the large – and now empty – spot that Rose had filled.

I didn't hold back this time; I felt the weld up tears and emotions over power me and take over. Lissa held me close and I cried harder than I had ever cried in my life.

My Roza was dead.

…**Yyyeeaahh… **

**PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!**

**If you would like a different ending, I have it ready. But if you like it here, then I'll stop the series and that's the end. I personally want to post the next one. Or at the very least make it an epilogue. I'm not going to give anything away, but it's basically everyone coping with Rose's death over a period of three years. If you want to know, then you guys need to speak up! Let me heard you scream it from the roof tops and stomp your feet like toddlers! I want to know that you want the last bit of this series!**

**(Can you tell how much I want to put that part of the story up? Lol)**

**Anyway, I'm sorry it's rather short, but you know, the last one was pretty long, so this is kind of like a compromise. I hoped it was somewhat to your liking, And I would hate to end it there so PLEASE tell me if you want to last and final chapter.**

**THANKS FOR READING! R&R**

**-Aly**


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